As officials and residents across the country seek out more ecological ways to care for the land, the goats are providing a carbon-free—and surprisingly effective—solution
Goats eat overgrown vegetation at the Brackenridge Park Conservancy in San Antonio, Texas
Image: Suzane Cordeiro / AFP
The landscaping squad of Mocha, Wynonna, Nelson and Beckham yank out weeds at a Texas park. They don't carry chainsaws or use herbicides. They are goats, and this environmentally friendly initiative is, for them, merely lunch.
The hungry goats—who bleat to their master Kyle Carr—are part of a team of 150 ruminants pruning the brush on a 6.5 acre (2.6 hectare) section of San Antonio's sprawling Brackenridge Park Conservancy, in the southwestern US.
And they are part of a growing trend: as officials and residents across the country seek out more ecological ways to care for the land, the goats are providing a carbon-free -- and surprisingly effective—solution.
It will take them about two weeks to clear the area of Brackenridge Park Conservancy, whose Twitter account enthusiastically promotes their efforts to human visitors.
They are removing plants such as ligustrum, a highly invasive shrub that can take water and nutrients away from the older oak trees the park seeks to protect, Carr tells AFP.