Griffith City Council has received a barrage of complaints from residents around Doolan Crescent in East Griffith, which backs on to the Scenic Hill reserve.

The reserve has long been a haven for the hairy pests, but a lack of water has prompted them to venture onto suburban streets and sample some of the garden delicacies.

Not surprisingly, it’s really getting on the goat of garden-proud residents.

Residents of Doolan Crescent said they had seen one or two goats in previous years, but now they were seeing up to 30 at a time wandering the street. They are most often seen after dark, with roses and hibiscus being their favourite “street food”.

Shireen Donaldson, manager of executive services for Griffith City Council, said a petition had been tabled at the last council meeting and they were in the process of acting on it.

“They’re a feral animal and they’re on Crown land so we’re going to put out an Expression of Interest (EOI) for qualified musterers and then there will be a process to trap the goats and remove them,” Ms Donaldson said.

“The goats are experiencing lack of water and are coming down into the gardens to eat the green plants and they’re escalating their activity and they’re not as intimidated anymore.

“They’re being driven by desperation to come down into people’s gardens.

“They come down the vacant block at the top of Doolan Crescent and that's how they get into the front yards.”

Griffith councillor Pat Cox was concerned about the vegetation on the hill at the top of the street, and the impact that recent rains would have.

Ms Donaldson said the variables were why it was important to have a solid plan of action.

“There has to be a procedure around this and that's why we need to do the EOI because there’s a methodology for treating the goats humanely,” Ms Donaldson said.

“We need to protect the native hill area as well as the goats and persons as well, we can’t just send someone up randomly.”

The solution was not as simple as a shotgun.

“There’ll be no shooting allowed; it will be trapping, an entrapment then removal,” Ms Donaldson said.

Scenic Hill is also the home of one of Griffith’s greatest tales.

An elaborate series of caves on Scenic Hill were once the home of Valerio Riccetti, a miner from Broken Hill.  After being jilted, he left Broken Hill and lived the life of a hermit in his cave on Scenic Hill. During World War II, he was interned and after his release he returned to the cave. He became very ill and sought refuge from one of the local doctors. In return for treatment he tended the doctor's garden. The hermit again became very ill and the citizens of Griffith collected money and sent him back to his home country in Italy where three months later he died.