Goats not allowed to stay on Abingdon Lock - Environment Agency

The Free the Abingdon Four petition is inspired by the plight of Weatherfield One Deirdre Rachid

A lock-keeper's wife has vowed to keep fighting to keep a small herd of goats on a small island by her house.

Lizzie bought four goats last year but landowners the Environment Agency said she can no longer have them grazing on Abingdon Lock in Oxfordshire.

She has since started a campaign so Boomer, Dingle, Tootle and Tumble can stay.

The Environment Agency (EA) said it was not obligated to have farm animals on its land.

"I started putting them on the island for half an hour, I got some crowd barriers, and people actually loved them straight away," Lizzie explained.

"They adored the attention. They loved being scratched.

"I didn't have any problems with them, other than they did escape the crowd barriers."

The goats are currently being cared for by Lizzie in her garden

She added: "I did a crowdfunder to get some proper agricultural hurdles, and loads of people donated and raised about £500 so they could be safe and secure on the island."

But a complaint to the EA led to the couple receiving a message from the government department saying the kids were not alright.

Lizzie started a Free the Abingdon Four petition, inspired by the plight of Deirdre Rachid (née Barlow) in Coronation Street, which has had more than 700 signatures.

The goats are currently being cared for by Lizzie in her garden.

In a statement a spokesperson for the EA said: "We will not allow goats on the Island at Abingdon Lock because it's not part of our statutory obligations to keep farm animals on our land."

Abingdon Lock has the oldest surviving lock chamber in the UK

Lizzie told the BBC: "This is just me as the wife of a lock-keeper who wants to make the community where I live a lot nicer.

"Having the goats here has brought people to the lock who wouldn't normally come here, it's got us having conversations with people we wouldn't normally be chatting to, people have an increased concern about the welfare of this site which is really important.

"I'm really hoping that... the Environment Agency will see there's a bigger picture here, and the greater good is for these four boys to bring happiness to everyone around them, rather than them being the liability they think they are."

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