(JP)Tokyo to remove island's 500 goats

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http://www.asahi.com/english/national/K2002031900510.html

 

Tokyo to remove island's 500 goats

March 19, 2002

 

The Asahi Shimbun

 

Time is running out for the 500 wild goats living on a

tiny deserted isle in the Izu island chain.

 

The Tokyo town of Hachijo is planning to round up the

feral ruminants that are eating up the plants and

trees on the island and damaging nearby fishing

grounds.

 

The wild goats on Hachijo-Kojima are the offspring of

only a dozen or so goats left behind when the last 91

islanders abandoned their home 33 years ago.

 

The islet, with its 8.7-kilometer coastline, is

located about 4 kilometers west of Hachijo-jima and

its population of 9,300. It takes about 11 hours to

traverse the 300 kilometers from central Tokyo to the

tiny island.

 

The island's goats, free to help themselves to the

trees and plants there, have damaged the groves of

mulberries and Japanese green alders. Because they

have stripped the ground bare in places, some goats

have even starved to death.

 

The defoliated ground is also prone to landslides and

rock slides, which in turn are damaging the rich

fishing grounds of Ise-ebi spiny lobsters and

tokobushi abalones.

 

Last August, the town trapped 39 goats in nets and is

planning to run another trial capture this month

before embarking on full-scale operations after April.

 

 

The town hopes to catch all 500 goats in two years,

and 300 to 400 goats the first year. The goats will be

taken to Hachijo-jima.

 

Hachijo-Kojima used to be rich in vegetation, thanks

in part to the seeds that washed ashore on driftwood.

 

``It may take time, but we want the island to recover

its original vegetation,'' says a Hachijo town

official. ``We hope to turn the island into a

sanctuary for wild birds.''

 

(03/19)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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