Goats are gaining a reputation for being a useful tool for fire prevention. HarshLight / CC BY 2.0 A city in Southern California has found a unique and adorable way to help prevent the next big wildfire : goats! The city of Anaheim near Los Angeles has renewed a contract with the company Environmental Land Management to keep goats munching on fire-fuel year round, NPR reported Sunday . Goats are ideal fire-preventers for two reasons: They can navigate steep hillsides and they tend to eat more flammable non-native grasses and leave native plants alone. “It would be almost impossible for a human to sit there or walk up and down with a weed whacker or a Weed Eater, so that’s why we use the goats,” Anaheim Fire Marshall Allen Hogue told NPR. A November 2019 study found that non-native grasses were one of the factors increasing the risk of wildfires, making them two to three times more likely, NPR reported. Researchers have also found that these grasses tend to spread more easily because of the climate crisis . That’s where goats come in. “Goats are really good at eating stuff, right?” UMass Amherst environmental conservation professor and study co-author […]
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