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California Dispatches Goats to Eat Brush, Prevent Wildfires

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: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:58PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @02:58PM (#840791)

    No joke, there are goat rental landscaping services. You pay someone to place goats on your property for a while to eat things up.

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  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday May 08 2019, @03:29PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @03:29PM (#840812)

    Also, in rural areas like where I am, there's sometimes even informal arrangements to do that without payments: The goat farmer gets some extra pasture they can work with, the property owner gets an easy lawn mowing, and the goats get more food. Everyone wins.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by bmimatt on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:11PM

    by bmimatt (5050) on Wednesday May 08 2019, @10:11PM (#841044)
    Yes, seen ads for that in SoCal.
    Check this out for a 4 day time lapse of 20 goats cleaning up backyard shrub [youtube.com]
    Apparently, they even feed at some intervals at night.