Local animal rights activists have called for an end to the Puck Fair tradition of capturing and holding a wild goat.
The Puck Fair kicked off yesterday (10 August) and met with fresh backlash from animal rights activists calling for an end to the use of a live goat as the fair’s traditional Puck King.
The fresh calls to eradicate the use of live goats comes after the controversy caused when a 2022 heatwave created particularly uncomfortable conditions for the goat at that year’s festival.
Puck Fair – one of Ireland’s oldest fairs
The Puck Fair is one of Ireland’s oldest fairs. Some claim its origins are ancient, with roots in the Celtic festival of Lughnasa, which celebrated the beginning of the harvest season. The first official record of the festival, however, dates back to 1613.
It takes place annually in the County Kerry town of Killorglin from 10 to 12 August, inclusive.
Key events include a horse fair on day one and a cattle fair on day two, while local vendors line the streets with stalls for the duration. The Puck Fair also puts on a plethora of family-friendly street entertainment from local and international acts.
King Puck – central to the Puck Fair celebrations
Central to the Puck Fair festivities is King Puck – a wild goat. The fair begins when a crowd of people, led by a goat-catcher, go into the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks mountains to catch the goat.
The goat is then brought back to Killorglin and crowned King Puck by the festival’s Queen of Puck – traditionally a local schoolgirl.
Once crowned, the goat is caged and placed atop an elevated stand in the middle of the town for the duration of the fair.
Recent controversy – leading to animal rights protests
Last year saw the Puck Fair return after the 2020 and 2021 festivals were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the 2022 Puck Fair was hampered by the concurrent heatwave in Ireland.
Due to unprecedented temperatures, the goat was removed from his cage several times.
This year, festival organisers have said that they will enact “strict protocols” to ensure the goat’s well-being, including that it will spend less time in the cage. The goat will also receive daily checks by an independent veterinary surgeon.
For local animal rights activists, however, these measures fall short: they would rather see an end to the use of goats in the Puck Fair altogether. Laura Broxon of the National Animal Rights Association said that organisers “haven’t gone far enough”.
“If they can admit that it’s wrong to keep a goat up in a cage for three days, then surely they can’t think that it’s OK to have him around for a couple of hours,” said Broxon.
“It’s an attempt, but it’s not good enough, and it needs to be the last time that a goat is used for this fair”.
Broxon also offered more ethical solutions for those who claim that a symbolic goat figure must be used in keeping with tradition: “They could have competitions in wood-carving, sculpting, they could have an animatronic goat.
“Anything else will do. They can be innovative with this. Just take live animals out of it”.
