The Department of Environment, Climate, Energy, and Knowledge of the Gran Canaria Island Council has launched the official call for applications for administrative permits for the live capture of feral goats. This restrictive measure covers the period between 2026 and 2030, directly impacting public forests and protected natural areas across the island. The resolution, signed by Councilor Raúl García Brink, authorizes direct intervention in ecologically valuable areas that are under significant environmental pressure due to the uncontrolled proliferation of these goat populations.
The framework established by the island administration primarily affects the Tirajana Cliffs, designated as a Natural Monument (C-20), as well as their corresponding Special Area of Conservation (ES7010018). This rugged environment of Tirajana, along with other key reserves such as the Inagua Integral Nature Reserve, the Pilancones Natural Park, and the Tauro Massif, is subject to population control regulations. Only the strict exclusion zones defined by the management plans for each protected area are exempt, safeguarding the most sensitive enclaves from hunting or authorized trapping activities.
The authorization of these live captures falls under the powers conferred upon the Island Council by Article 6 of Law 3/2026 of Island Councils, and is in accordance with Law 42/2007 on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity and Law 4/2017 on Soil and Protected Natural Areas of the Canary Islands. Feral goat populations are having a severe impact on the endemic flora and priority habitats of the Tirajana Cliffs, accelerating erosion on the slopes and competing directly with native fauna in an area already suffering from water scarcity and recurring episodes of climate stress.
Livestock farmers, hunters, and anyone interested in obtaining official authorization have a non-extendable period of fifteen business days. The implementation of this four-year plan, which runs until 2030, demonstrates the institutional urgency to contain environmental degradation on the peaks and slopes of the southern part of the island.
While environmental groups are calling for additional vegetation restoration measures, the agricultural sector and protected area managers see these live-capture permits as the only legal way to halt the ecological collapse of fragile ecosystems like the basalt escarpments of Tirajana. Effective control of the wild goat population will shape the landscape of these slopes during the second half of the decade, influencing the recovery of vegetation cover and the protection of the island's most threatened endemic plant species.
