Monday, June 22, 2009

Clearing Brush in Palos Verdes

As The Ancient One reached a turnaround point on one of his walks last week, something looked quite different. He gazed down canyon at the end of a cul-de-sac and was greeted with this view:



What were all those white spots? Aging eyes weren't quite sure but he was sure that some of them were sprouting legs. With the help of the modest zoom feature on his camera and the editing capabilities on the computer, the view became a bit more clear and focused. A "modern" of clearing the brush had come to Palos Verdes in an effort to protect against brush fires.



Yes, those are goats. A herd of them had been transported into the canyon to feed themselves to distraction. They were consuming, and thereby clearing away, the heavy brush. I guess that even with transportation costs, using goats to prevent brush fires is far faster and less expensive than employing human labor.


A modern solution to a potentially serious hazard!

5 comments:

savannah said...

everything old is new again, sugar! ;~D xooxoo

Betty said...

Goats. What a great idea!

Darlene said...

Now that's really innovative. I wonder if they would eat the trash that ends up in our washes.

Charles Gramlich said...

I was just a lowly goatherd when the infidels came to my village.

Leon said...

Thanks for your comments SAVANNAH, BETTY, DARLENE and CHARLES. Actually, goats have been used quite a bit in southern California but this is the first time I've heard of or seen them here in Palos Verdes. I was first aware of them a couple of years ago when there was an news report about using them on Calalina Island.