Don’t let their cute looks fool you. Although rare, the longtail boughby is notorious in these parts for its mischief and mayhem. Feed them once and they’ll never forget it, returning to your lands day after day expecting more. Miss a day and expect chaos. They’ll rip up your plants, they’ll tear down your clean laundry from the line, sneak into your house, empty cupboards, steal eggs from yard chickens, pull tiles from rooftops, chew through doors to reach storehouses… All in search of food.

For a creature the size of a small housecat they are remarkably strong and endlessly wilful. If you make the kind mistake of feeding one, inviting it and its family to your meals (for that is how the boughby sees it) there is only one way to deter these unwanted guests: goats. Ideally the equally rambunctious “pepper goats,” a small local breed that will protect its home from greedy invaders by jumping headfirst into its foe. They’re just strong enough and equally as wilful to drive the boughby off for good, and they’ll finally go back to their forest homes with a sulk.