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Game of Thrones saved an Irish farming business
'It has been a great asset and a great saviour for our farm'
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Games of Thrones - the HBO series once described as being plainly about ‘tits and dragons’ by one of its actors - has become the unlikely saviour of an Irish farm.
Forthill Farm in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, was struggling to stay afloat until the drama made some of its livestock worldwide celebrities.
"It has been a great asset and a great saviour for our farm,” farmer Kenny Gracey told Sky News. "Any of the background animals, the chickens, the goats, the geese, the dogs for instance or the deer... I'm supplying those.”
Gracey’s iron-age pigs, along with numerous other animals, have been seen on screen and are all rewarded with a home for life.
Meanwhile, other animals have also been made famous by Game of Thrones and helped Irish businesses. Odin and Thor - Northern Inuit dogs from County Down - played the Direwolves 'Summer' and ‘Greywind’ in the show becoming a phenomenal hit with fans.
William Mulhall, of Direwolf Tours, told Sky: "I got a phone call one day from the breeder, who had owned them, saying that some TV show wants to use my dogs in it. So I brought the dogs up to the breeder's house where the trainers from Game of Thrones were and they had pictures and then that was it, that's how it began.”
Now, fans from around the world travel to see the dogs - who made their debut appearance on the show aged six weeks - in real life.
Even dead animals are boosting the local economy, with a taxidermist hired to make sure props and costumes are produced from animals that died ethically.
"It gives them an extra life and rather than go to a museum where, although they still get admired, these certainly have more of a movie star kind of a life, where it does get used and obviously admired,” Ingrid Houwers said.
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"I have seen things that go to the exhibition as well so they get an extra boost to show people what they're used for and how they bring this fantasy world to life.”
Game of Thrones will return later this year for season seven. Meanwhile, the first footage has been revealed by HBO, which you can watch here.
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