Trapped goat rescued from Donegal castle tower

A young goat has been rescued after becoming trapped at the top of the tower of a 14th Century castle in County Donegal.

The animal, which has since been named Ivy, was rescued by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) with help from a member of the Donegal Mountain Rescue team on Monday.

Ivy had been trapped for four days at the top of Northburg Castle’s tower near Greencastle in Donegal.

Kevin McGinley of the ISPCA said it had been unable to get down itself because of a fractured leg.

“It has a fracture to its metatarsal, will be in plaster for next six weeks and is now in the care of the ISPCA ,” he told BBC Radio Foyle’s Mark Patterson Show.

The alarm was first raised on Friday by locals who became concerned that the goat was unable to get down from the tower and appeared to be in some distress.

Mr McGinley said the ISPCA had been monitoring the situation over the weekend in the hope that it would descend the tower of its own volition.

“Unfortunately that did not transpire,” he said.

“A local man had ascended the tower and tried to rescue the goat but had abandoned the operation for his safety and the goat's”.

The steps that lead up through the tower have given way around half way up, he added, making the rescue more challenging.

During the failed local rescue, a ladder and planks of wood had been left in the tower, again hoping the goat could manage to climb down.

Again, that did not happen and on Monday the ISPCA were able to rescue the animal.

“It became apparent when I got there that the goat had an injury to its leg. It was a matter of getting it down as quickly as possible and transferred to a local vet,” Mr McGinley said.

He added: “When you get a good outcome and rescue an animal there is no better feeling”.