– Many are upset – news Vestland

Olve Grotle from Høgre announces that he will ask Agriculture Minister Sandra Borch (Sp) to answer in the Storting about what she thinks should happen to the herd of goats that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority believes must be euthanized. – In recent days, I have been contacted by a number of people who have reacted that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority wants to shoot the goat herd in Høyanger. Many people are upset, and then this is something I can do, he says. The herd of goats has been unsupervised for 70-80 years and was a well-known feature in the area. The slaughter of the goats is based on inbreeding and poor animal welfare. The news that the state has decided that the life of the wild goats in Sogn has an enormous popular commitment. A newly created support group for the goats on Facebook has gained over 3,900 members in less than a day. – When I read about the case I was upset, angry, shocked and sad and wondered what I could do for the goats, says Helge Fossheim Andersen, the man behind the support group. He is overwhelmed by the commitment. – The response shows that there are many animal veins in Norway and in the immediate area. There are many people who care about both animal welfare and the goats. Unge Høgre is among those who are now fighting for the future of the goat herd at Kvist in Høyanger. Photo: Odd Arild Løseth Meiner The Norwegian Food Safety Authority prioritizes errors After the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s decision was announced, politicians have also become involved. Sogn Avis writes, for example, that the board of the local team of Unge Høgre has held a crisis meeting about the matter. – The question is whether it is really necessary to cull the herd, or whether there are other ways to help with the welfare challenges that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority has pointed out, says Grotle. He is joined by Alfred Bjørlo in Venstre. – This is misunderstood animal protection. These goats must be allowed to live. Nature arranges this. The decision of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority is incomprehensible, he believes. According to Bjørlo, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority has “more important things to do” than killing this herd. – The Norwegian Food Safety Authority lacks the resources to follow up gross, serious violations of the Animal Protection Act among both domestic animals and pets. Then it is very difficult to see that this is the right way to prioritize scarce resources. Tamme for a thousand years to Head of Department Gro Eliassen in the Norwegian Food Safety Authority tells news that she thinks it’s good that people get involved and are preoccupied with animal welfare. She points out that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority works with different types of cases, and that animal welfare is the main task of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and also the background for the decision they have made. – It is important that people know the whole picture and see the whole before they form an opinion. She elaborates that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority is concerned with animal welfare for all animals in the herd. Furthermore, she points out that the fact that the herd has decreased sharply is a sign of a lack of animal welfare. – 15 years ago the herd was around 100 animals. Today it is around 50. During these 15 years, around 10 cows were born a year. This means that there are around 150 – 200 animals that we do not know what has happened to them. The care of small and large “wild domestic goats” in Sogn arouses interest. Photo: Odd Arild Løseth Eliassen says it is not known whether the animals were taken by predators or have died from disease or lack of food. – This is also about animal welfare for the animals that have not made it. Eliassen compares the herd to deer to show that the goats are still “tame” animals. A clear difference is when they have offspring. In the same way as domestic goats and sheep, the goat herd is fed in the winter. The deer, on the other hand, have a calf later in the year. Thus, the heifer is born in a season with snow and cold, while the calves have both more warmth and better access to food. – It shows that the goats have not adapted to life in the wild, says Eliassen, and indicates that it will take several hundred, perhaps a thousand years before domesticated animals are “wild” again. – Free and wonderful to live outside The argument does not convince mayor Arnstein Menes in Sogndal. – This is an area with relatively little snow, so I have experienced that they have managed well, he believes. Menes does not want to speculate on what has happened to the animals that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority says must have been born, but which are now not part of the herd. – I don’t see what the problem is with these goats. They have been part of the local community for years. They may well live on. It must be free and wonderful to be able to live outside the way they do. And it looks like they’re having a good time. Andersen in the support group believes there are good opportunities to use the goats as tourist magnets. – Here the municipality should get on track to satisfy the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s requirements, he says, and points out, among other things, that some of the requirements from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority can be solved easily, for example by giving the goats the opportunity to have a roof over their heads. – It doesn’t take much to build a shed where they can go in when the weather is at its worst. Sogndal mayor Menes is not averse to the municipality taking responsibility. – The area they are walking in has now become part of Høyanger municipality, so we two municipalities must have a dialogue with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority about what is possible to achieve, he says. – I am sure that those goats there are the most closed goats in Norway, says Helge Fossheim Andersen, the man behind the support group on Facebook. Photo: ODD ARILD LØSETH



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