A flock of geese that frequent Belfast’s Shankill estate each year has been granted protection by loyalist paramilitaries, who have told locals that the geese are “not to be touched.”

The geese are back in Shankill Estate this morning lol pic.twitter.com/VJaMyH8mSO — The Ulster Bear 🇬🇧 (@The_Ulster_Bear) January 12, 2017

The greylag geese have been coming to Northern Ireland from Iceland each winter for the last decade. When they first arrived in the area, people assumed they wouldn’t stay long as they thought animals and people on the estate would bother them.

My favourite thing today. A lady feeding geese in the Shankill estate. pic.twitter.com/0nM3RwhwNA — Stephen Donnan (@SteveDonnan) February 3, 2017

Only in Belfast would you get GEESE being "protected" by paramilitaries.....😳https://t.co/WZJD01ww9w — Clíona McCarney (@clionamccarney) February 10, 2017

Paramilitaries on the estate soon spread the word to “leave the geese alone, so nobody touches them,” one resident told the Belfast Telegraph. As a result, the geese are now a regular feature in the neighborhood, where they are fed by children and adults alike.

They are so well looked after, that traffic slows down to allow the birds to cross the road.

A taster of tonight's @bbcnewsline report on the Shankill Estate geese. Radio version on @BBCgmu shortly and more on @BBCNewsNIpic.twitter.com/DjdU7PJDmO — conor macauley (@TVconormac) February 10, 2017

Paramilitary groups emerged in the area during ‘the Troubles’ – a conflict over whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK or become part of the Republic of Ireland that raged from the late 1960s to the 1990s.

While the conflict is largely over, some paramilitaries continue to operate there.