I thought Bono was the King of Ireland

Goat's crowning as king of Ireland in doubt
Reuters

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The annual crowning of a goat as king of Ireland at one of the country's oldest fairs is in doubt after organizers said the heir to the throne may be stopped from traveling to the festival.

Traditionally a male goat is caught in the mountains of Kerry in southern Ireland and paraded through the town of Killorglin where he reigns for the three days of Puck Fair, a centuries-old festival of drinking, music and dancing.

Locals may have to desperately trek the nearby hills after this year's chosen animal from the Northern Ireland town of Ballycastle could only get a four-day license for the trip south of the border.

"It takes at least a day to bring a goat from Ballycastle to Killorglan and the goat is on the stand for three days. It's not possible to do that within the four days," Puck Fair chairman Declan Mangan told state radio station RTE.

"The people in Ballycastle are looking for another goat who would be able to come for an extended trip to Kerry. In the meantime we have to look around the mountains here just incase."

Mangan said time is already running out for the local goat catcher to find a replacement for the fair which always falls on August 10-12, despite having origins that are not totally known.

"Our problem is if we don't get a goat from the north pretty quick, our goat catch Frank Joy will have to go out onto the mountains and usually he is out for two or three weeks looking for a suitable goat," Mangan said.

I'm a bit curious to know what a suitable goat is. Does his goatee have to be a certain length or consistency? Or must his horns be straight? I just don't get it. Sounds like too much of a hassle.

Lajitas, Mexico is better. They just keep one goat in town at all times as acting mayor. When he dies one of his kids take over. Plus you can feed him beer, which my dad has done and I consider that to be cooler than anything your dad has ever done or will do. Oddly enough they had problems there some years back with some animal nut trying to neuter the goat. You can't cut the mayor's nads off. That has to be illegal. Even in Mexico.