One city in California has come up with an ingenious way to combat wildfires: they’ve hired goats to clear dry brush from the hillsides.

Anaheim has a contract with Environmental Land Management, which they’ve recently re-upped, to keep 400 of the animals working in areas where it would be difficult for a person to perform the same tasks.

“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,” says the city’s Fire Marshall, Allen Hogue.

According to Johnny Gonzales, the company’s operations manager, he’s been fielding lots of calls from private individuals who are also interested in using goats for their properties.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/05/792458505/california-cities-turn-to-hired-hooves-to-help-prevent-massive-wildfires