THEY'VE inspired passionate loyalty, venomous hatred, and despairing frustration — now, for the first time in more than 10 years, the feral goats of Lynton have been rounded up for medical treatment and some will probably be culled.

Treading a thin line between the opposing factions in the nearby community, Diana Lewis from North Devon Animal Ambulance (NDAA) is putting the welfare of the wild Valley of Rocks herd at the heart of the operation.

A severe worm infection prompted the co-ordinated action, which saw Diana bring together trained veterinary surgeons, Defra, the RSPCA and animal welfare specialists.

The thorny issue of culling has also been addressed — but Diana stressed that only those which were in an extremely poor state would be humanely put down — and only on the instructions of the vet.

On Tuesday, 40 people, all experienced at handling animals, were deployed in the Valley of Rocks, for the tricky task of rounding up the animals.

They included National Trust wardens, Friends of the Goats and Lee Abbey estate staff.

Under the instruction of National Trust warden Julian Gurney, they began at 5.30am and by 8am, all 170 were penned in.

Lyn Mayor Bernard Peacock said: "We couldn't believe it. We thought it would take all day, but we had been putting feed in the pen and had been watching them. Many tended to sit in the car park in the early morning, so it was just a matter of getting to them before they disappeared for the day."

Others had to be brought down from the hills.

Lynton Town Council provided the penned area, in which the goats were contained and fed, watched over through the night.

Diana said: "In recent months, we have had to put 15 goats down and taken four orphaned kids out. We had a post mortem examination done by Defra and Market Vets, which found the goats were suffering from grave ill health, due to a huge worm burden and being covered in ticks.

"I had a number of consultations with Lynton Town Council who are genuinely trying to find the best way forward and we put together the arrangements."

These have included NDAA paying for all necessary drugs and Market Vets, based in South Molton, giving all their time for free.

The major treatment operation began yesterday with each goat being led into a horse trailer to be wormed by the vets and treated for liver fluke and ticks.

They also got their feet trimmed and teeth checked, while drug company Intravet donated Bluetongue vaccine, which Diana said would be a benefit to local livestock if there were an outbreak, as the goats would already have been vaccinated.

Before the operation, Alan Jaques, partner at Market Vets, said: "We're putting four vets out there, so should have sufficient manpower and will just keep going until they are all done."

Any goats that are too sickly to survive will be taken into a tented area for humane dispatch by injection.

Diana stressed: "Each carcass has to be recorded and accounted for, and taken away for proper disposal by Defra. No-one will be running around with shotguns."

After treatment each goat will have been marked on the horn with a different coloured paint, to indicate whether it was healthy or needed watching.

Diana said: "A great deal of planning has gone into this, by a lot of people, with every effort being made for the future of this goat herd.

"They are a great tourism asset for North Devon, like the red deer in Scotland, which also cause damage, but which are closely managed."