Goats eat their way through New York park

Two dozen goats from a farm in a bucolic part of New York state are on a city outing — let loose in Manhattan’s Riverside Park on July 14 to munch on invasive weeds. 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.” Of the 24 goats, five will call Riverside Park home until the end of August, eating their way through 2 acres of the park. (Reuters) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.