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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday May 08 2019, @12:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the do-they-get-to-run-the-siren? dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

California firefighters are enlisting help from some unusual allies to prevent more deadly wildfires from ripping across the state -- goats.

The Ventura County Fire Department is releasing hundreds of goats next week north of Los Angeles to eat dead brush that could become fuel for a fires.

"They'll eat until we like the way the landscape looks, and then we move them to another area," Captain Ken VanWig, who oversees the department's vegetation management program, said in an interview. "They're very effective."

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:58PM (16 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @01:58PM (#840761)

    The goats will eat the plants they like, and leave others, requiring a human pass over the hillside anyway.

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Pslytely Psycho on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:22PM (6 children)

    by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:22PM (#840775)

    Goats will eat, or try to eat basically anything. Grass, shrubs, trees, weeds, tin cans, cardboard, clothing, car tires...
    Leave them in an area and all that will be left is the trash they found inedible.

    --
    Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:30PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:30PM (#840780)
    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:27PM (1 child)

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:27PM (#840845) Journal

      Goats don't actually eat tin cans, the just nibble at the paper label.

      OTOH, they did eat the plastic top to my mother's car, and a bunch of fiberglass insulation that she was installing.

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:05PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @06:05PM (#840917)

        They must not have taste buds. Or pain nerves. Or maybe just no brains?

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by EvilSS on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:18PM

      by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 08 2019, @07:18PM (#840945)
      Goat logic:

      Can I make it fit in my mouth? ---yes---> It's food

      \---no---> It's food, find way to make fit.
    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:10PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:10PM (#841006)

      We visited a state park that had a few goats in a pen. To entice the goats to the fence for the kids, I broke off a branch of something or other and dangled it over the fence - it worked, of course, 3 seconds later all the goats were at the fence munching on the branch.

      A few seconds later we walked around a corner in the fence and, I noticed a "do not feed the goats" sign, printed on 8.5x11 paper and stapled to the fence in a plastic sleeve. The goats followed us around the corner, reached up over the fence and proceeded to eat the sign, plastic cover and all.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:25AM

      by Reziac (2489) on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:25AM (#841156) Homepage

      Knew a guy who was a wildlife biologist and worked in the Middle East. He said there are feral goats in the Saudi desert, where NOTHING grows -- seems the goats survive by eating newspaper that blows out of the cities.

      Goats can be taught to prefer some particular plant, but when they get hungry, there's pretty much nothing they won't try to eat.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday May 08 2019, @03:09PM (7 children)

    Nah, goats will eat anything pretty much. They look upon briars as a delicacy even.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:14PM (4 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:14PM (#841049)

      I have seen a goat eat both blackberry and gorse.

      I have no idea how they do it, my theory is that their mouths are made of steel.

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:34AM (3 children)

        Having raised a few back in my youth, I'm pretty sure they're just too stupid to connect the pain in their mouth to what they're chewing on.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:45AM (2 children)

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:45AM (#841130)

          I wasn't sure about goats, but every time I eat lamb chops I think back to my youth working in shearing sheds, and how stupid, smelly and ill-tempered sheep are and I enjoy the revenge of eating their offspring all the more.

          I hate sheep. Cows are pretty laid back usually, but sheep are arseholes.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:15AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:15AM (#841149)

            Those are heavily-bred sheep.

            I have heritage variety sheep, and while they can be smelly if you confine them, out in the open they're fine. They're also quite smart - cunning even. And they're pretty mellow as long as they know you.

            If they don't know you, and you try taking liberties with them, get used to the feeling of horns and hooves. But really, I can't blame them for that.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:55AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:55AM (#841214)

              PartTimeZombie is from New Zealand. Taking liberties with a sheep has a whole different meaning down there.

    • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:29AM (1 child)

      by Reziac (2489) on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:29AM (#841157) Homepage

      Yeah, they seem to think giant thistles are delicious, even when they're dried up and can readily substitute for daggers and caltrops. Seen three goats reduce an acre of dead thistles (12 feet tall, not your average backyard thistle) to bare dirt in about a week.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:02PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @09:02PM (#840998)

    requiring a human pass over the hillside anyway.

    Once the goats have converted sufficient biomass to poop, you can do prescribed burns safely.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]