King Puck now spends about an hour on the stand, not three days

Puck Fair ended in Killorglin on Wednesday, and with it came the annual argument about the goat.

Gerry Boland of Animals Behind Closed Doors, who has campaigned on this for years, says using a wild goat at all is cruel and that the tradition should end completely.

What has already changed is how long King Puck is up there. Until 2022 the goat spent all three days and nights on the stand above the square. Since 2023 he makes only a short appearance after his coronation on 10 August and is raised again on 12 August for the dethroning, roughly an hour at a time, with a vet checking him across the three days.

That is worth knowing before you build a trip around it. If seeing King Puck aloft is the point of the visit, aim for the coronation on the evening of the 10th or the dethroning on the 12th. Come in between and you get the horse fair, the cattle fair, the street music and the funfair, but an empty stand.