THE owner of the East Cliff goats collected two bags of litter from the animals’ enclosure over a weekend and described it as “society today”.

Owner Mark said he regularly litter picks in the enclosure to ensure it is tidy and said he found syringes among the rubbish.

He said: “A lot of the rubbish is blown into the enclosure and you get drunk people throwing tins over the fence.

“I go along once a month and tidy it all up. A lot of it is crisp packets which gets blown along the footpath.

“Then there’s a few people throwing tins over, there’s been a couple of footballs, baseball cap, a syringe.”

Mark confirmed the litter posed no risk to the goats.

He added: “It is general polite housekeeping, there’s litter bins along the top.

“There’s quite a few members of the community who do litter picking, they can’t get in the enclosure, so I go along there.

“It’s also about people feeding the goats. I have had to say to people taking bread down there, if everyone took bread, they could have five or six loafs a day which could be harmful.”

In July this year, one of the East Cliff goats gave birth to triplet, one of which died in August.

And Mark said the two remaining will be split from the mother in the next few weeks and placed on the cliff.

He said: “They are doing extremely well. When they get to four and a half months I have to split them because they become sexually mature.

“We are going to be moving some other girls and then moving the big red buck over so we should have some more babies in April.

“Then there’s a few that I am buying from a friend so we should have kids in January. All the boys will be together on the cliff.

“They are doing a fantastic job with keeping the cliff down, they are doing what goats do.”

A spokesperson for BCP Council said: “The East Cliff goat grazing scheme, which began in February is going well and the goats are gradually eating their way through the vegetation which is exactly what we were hoping for. We are pleased the goats also continue to attract lots of visitors.

“We do have an issue with discarded litter being thrown or blown onto the cliffs, where it is a potential hazard to the goats and to the local wildlife.

“The owner of the goats carries out regular litter picks to ensure they do not eat anything harmful, but we would of course prefer that this wasn’t required.

“We would like to remind all visitors, that wherever you are, it is really important to take responsibility for your litter and dispose of it properly.”