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Phones out, spectators crowded around fences and counted down as
the hungry black, brown and white goats were herded in a
ceremonial 'Running of the Goats' to begin their task as natural
weed whackers.
"They chowed down on Japanese knotweed, they noshed on porcelain
berry, they snacked on multiflora rose, they easily traversed
the hard-to-reach terrain behind me and gulped down poison ivy
without even giving it a second thought," said Dan Garodnick,
Riverside Park Conservancy president and CEO.
"Putting them to work in 'Goatham' is like treating them to an
all-you-can-eat buffet. It's healthy for the goats and it's good
for the environment. That's farm to table."
Using the goats to remove invasive species at Riverside Park is
an environmentally friendly win-win - the goats get to feast on
overgrown brush and Riverside Park Conservancy doesn't have to
use chemicals to remove the weeds.
Of the 24 goats, five will call Riverside Park home until the
end of August, eating their way through two acres of the park.
The public can vote for one among Buckles, Chalupa, Mallemar,
Ms. Bo Peep and Skittles, to be crowned the Greatest Of All
Time. The winner will be announced by the end of the summer.
"On top of how cute they are, not only can they eat a lot of
their body weight, but they'll actually neutralize the seeds so
they won't get replanted next year," said Larry Cihanek, son of
the owner of Green Goats farm in Rhinebeck.
"And you know they'll work longer days than the landscapers."
(Reporting by Roselle Chen; Editing by Karishma Singh and
Rosalba O'Brien)
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