The problem of feral goats in Anaga has been going on for years, but the neighbors say they “cannot take this situation anymore”. Andrés Hernández, president of the Association of Neighbors Los Valles del Sur de Anaga, asks to end this because “things are getting worse” and, more importantly, “no one” provides a solution to the problem.
The matter is complex. These wild animals have managed to “roam freely” by approaching the agricultural gardens, which is a real problem for the owners: “In summer, when the herbs are dry, they approach the orchards and there they end up with the fruit trees. They eat leaves and fruit and the harvest of the year can be lost, but they also eat the bark and that can kill the tree. We are talking about 15 or 20-year-old trees, even some that your father had planted and that you lose ”.
But it is not something that only affects crops, also agricultural infrastructures and even, as Hernández reveals, homes: “They alter the connections of the irrigation infrastructures, thereby losing water, even more important in summer. But, as there are more and more, they are already breaking walls and even roofs of houses. It’s maddening ”.
Andrés has already contacted the institutions, but is still waiting for a reply. From the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife they have informed him that “they would contact the Environment area”, while he waits for the Cabildo to “pay attention” to them.
This neighbor regrets that it is “the story of all summers” being necessary, even, to watch so that they “do not get” in the growing areas: “Sometimes, you don’t even sleep, because you are attentive to it. There are many. We are getting worse. If we don’t protect what we have… ”.
