Who would you pick to save your community from rampant wildfire?
B) Lil Wayne
C) A herd of goats
If you picked A or B, we’re sorry — your house has burned down. If you picked C, you’re clearly a prevention-minded person! But you’re also out of luck, because firefighting goats are in extremely high demand these days.
In the Bay Area, goats are literally eating wildfire fuel. These hoofed heroes like to graze on dry brush, which, if left unconsumed, could contribute to the spread of fires. In case you haven’t been paying much attention to goings-on in the Golden State, wildfires are already threatening huge swaths of the state, and parched flora is in abundance.
California Grazing, a company based in Coalinga, Calif., brings a herd of goats to areas covered in dry grass so that they can digest ignitable material. The company has about 1,500 goats at work, but owner Bill Canaday says that he would need twice as many to keep up with demand. He has even begun to seek goats from out-of-state operators.
Goats are perfectly suited to the task, as Canaday tells Bay Area news station KTVU:
“They’re doing what they love to do,” says Canaday. “You don’t have to pay them to do this and you can’t make a goat do what he don’t want to do.”
The downside to running a goat operation? Miscreants will sometimes steal the goats for their meat, which is just rude.
Watch the video below to witness these local heroes munch on a dead field with the same enthusiasm as Action Bronson devouring a burger made out of their cousins. (That was also rude. Sorry!)
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