Goats are an unlikely but increasingly popular weapon in California’s fight against the wildfires that rage through the state every year. On a recent hot morning, a herd of 80 were deployed to a hilly patch of land just outside Los Angeles.
They had been chomping away for the past 10 days or so, helping to clear away bone-dry vegetation that could go up in flames and threaten the surrounding homes.
Their work comes at a vital time. Last year was the worst in California’s modern history for wildfires, with more than 1.6 million hectares scorched.
Due to climate change and a brutal drought, officials fear that massive infernos are now the norm. So any help is welcome.
“We started hearing a lot about goats, from community members, other fire departments and cities,” said Glendale fire marshal Jeffrey Ragusa.
“The more we looked into it, the more we realised how effective and environmentally friendly they can be.”
The goats’ voracious appetite serves two purposes. Eating easily flammable vegetation helps to restrict the spread of fire, and also creates a convenient corridor in which firefighters can operate to “protect the homes in a safer environment” should the need arise, said Ragusa.
The goats grazing in Glendale are brought in by Sage Environmental Group, a company that carries out habitat restoration and environmental planning. Its founder, Alissa Cope, began incorporating goats into her work five years ago, and now owns around 400 of the animals.
The strategy carries an inherent risk – goats, if left to their own devices, will munch anything in their path.
“We watch them closely,” she said. “If we feel they’re overgrazing, we will deliberately move them” using electric fences or luring them with hay.
Without revealing how much the goats earn for their labour, Cope says the cost of employing the animals is comparable to what the authorities would pay for human workers, but at a lower environmental toll.
Of course, the animals are just one small part of the strategy for coping with the threat of fires. But their help can be valuable, easing the workload for overstretched human contractors who create buffer zones by removing vegetation – often manually, in sweltering heat and difficult terrain – before and during fire seasons.
“There’s always a threat of injury to personnel,” said Ragusa. “But I haven’t seen a goat trip yet.”