goats

Research nitrogen leaching and salinisation

Summary (Dutch):

Op het terrein van dienst Landbouw, Veeteelt en Visserie (LVV) op Bonaire zal in 2012 een irrigatieproject worden opgestart, waar voedersorghum en buffelgras verbouwd gaat worden. Dit zal gebeuren met irrigatiewater afkomstig van de waterzuiveringsinstallaties. Aangezien dit water niet vrij is van stikstof en zouten bestaat er kans op stikstofuitspoeling en verzouting. Dit wordt in dit verslag onderzocht.

Protocol for export and import of goats between Bonaire and the Netherlands

Regulations to mark and register goats and sheep

Overzicht duurzame geitenhouderij Bonaire

The remote Caribbean island of Redonda, part of Antigua and Barbuda, is home to numerous species of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. It is also home to invasive black rats and non-native goats that are wiping out the island’s native, rare wildlife, conservationists say.

To help the island’s flora and fauna, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda is now initiating a plan to remove all goats and rats from the island. The Redonda Restoration Program program has been formed by the Antigua & Barbuda Government and the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) in collaboration with organizations like Fauna & Flora International, British Mountaineering Council, Island Conservation and Wildlife Management International Ltd.

Feral goats (Capra hircus) are implicated in habitat destruction, and alteration of species composition on sensitive insular ecosystems. In the absence of population control, goats have become the ecologically dominant species on many islands with the results that numerous endemic plant species have been extirpated, or are threatened by excessive grazing. It is demonstrated that removal of goats can lead to rapid recovery of suppressed vegetation. The problems associated with excessive numbers of feral goats have rarely been studied or formally recognised. Extensive and intensive research is critically needed if affected island ecosystem are to be preserved or restored.

Report on the assessement of the population density goats on Bonaire

Long periods of isolation and small island size make island ecosystems highly vulnerable to degradation and invasive species are one of the most significant threats (Cronk, 1997). Due to their role as livestock, introduced species such as sheep, goats, pigs, cows and donkeys are some of the most common invasive species worldwide (Island conservation, 2015). Introduced grazing species consume island vegetation at a rate faster than it is able to regenerate, and islands with invasive grazers are characterised by few, small trees of limited species, and low grass, herb, and shrub cover (Dahlin et al., 2014).