Wild goats terrorizing residents in small Western Australian town

Wild goats have overrun a small Western Australian (WA) town after a herd's quest for food has led them to the small town of Kambalda in the WA goldfields.

More than 250 goats have set up residency in the small town of around 3,000 people, damaging cars, eating gardens and sleeping on streets.

Coolgardie Shire president Malcolm Cullen said residents had filed official complaints to the local council about the goats, which began moving into town around a month ago.

He said more goats had been spotted around Kambalda in recent days, and had begun terrorizing residents by eating plants in their gardens and disrupting the flow of traffic.

"One person had one up on their car and they are a traffic hazard on the roads, they are unavoidable," Cullen told Fairfax Media on Friday.

Cullen said goats were introduced to the goldfields area decades ago when their meat and milk was a precious resource for miners, but many escaped and became wild over time.

He said the goats had generally stayed away from towns but wild dogs and a lack of food had seemingly forced the animals into taking up refuge in Kambalda.

"The plants in people's gardens might be a bit more succulent than what they can find out in the bush at the moment," Cullen said.

"Wild dogs have also been a big problem in the area. They have wreaked havoc on sheep farms and now they are targeting the goats, so they might be coming in to seek shelter from them."

Cullen told Fairfax Media the shire "doesn't have the resources to deal with" the goats, and the use of firearms was illegal, so the goats could have run out of the town for some time.

He said traps would be organized by local farmers, but if the problem persists, the council would be meeting in two or three months to reassess the situation. Endit