Game of Thrones may be one of the biggest TV shows in the world, with a huge budget and habit for killing off almost everyone, but it's also helped save the business of a farmer in Northern Ireland. Forthill Farm in County Armagh was struggling to make ends meet until it's animals featured in the TV series.
The show has a huge case, but also a large number of animals, and they've got to come from somewhere. Farmer Kenny Gracey told Sky News that the show's demand for animals "has been a great asset and a great saviour for our farm". He added: "Any of the background animals, the chickens, the goats the geese, the dogs for instance or the deer… I'm supplying those."
Meanwhile, the show's direwolves might look like they come from a fantasy word, but in reality, they're from County Down. The Northern Inuit dogs Thor and Odin played the Stark companions 'Summer' and 'Greywind' and now get fans from all over the world coming to see them. William Mulhall, who runs 'Direwolf Tours', said: "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."
And it's not just the animals and farmers that have benefitted from Game of Thrones - taxidermists have also got in on the action. Yep, really. Ingrid Houers from County Down helps source costumes, making sure they're all made from animals that died ethically. She said: "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." So there you go, at least you know all those winter coats didn't harm any animals.
