It’s official. Goats are unwelcome in the Virgin Islands National Park, and the Agriculture Department is on track to capture them by using corrals or traps.
The wildest goats will be shot and slaughtered for meat which will be distributed to the local community, according to a report in the St. John Source. The goats are among a number of “introduced species” to the Park which, by nibbling and eating, are threatening rare plants such as the prickly ash, the report continued. The goats are also munching ground cover which has a role in preventing erosion and sediment washing onto the coral reefs.
The only mammals native to St. John are bats, the Park Service said.
I can’t determine whether it is right or wrong to kill off the donkeys but I find it a pitiful shame that they were taken from their original habitat( mistake #1) then expected to make a new home in a foreign habitat (mistake #2) and now will be killed off because they made the best of the 1st 2 mistakes made by humans. They adapted and will now be killed for this. Since bats were the only natives should we kill off all humans since they too have and still are doing damage to the island?
My mistake in my comment about donkeys. The artical says goats but the picture is of a donkey. My comment still applies though