Leo Gillick
Using natural methods for firefighting and brush clearing has become much more common of late. However, disaster struck one herd of fire prevention sheep and a goat, which died after munching on the wrong plants.
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The animals are part of a group known as Scape Goat Grazing. They are employed to clear areas of brush and potentially flammable growth.
How they work: Around 120 sheep and goats, 3 dogs, and even an emu for aerial protection work together. They are released on sections of land that need grazing. Then, they munch it all back, and in the process, fertilize the land.
- The herd can clear huge areas, opening up the undergrowth for native plants to grow through. As they digest the plants, they poop them out to fertilize what they have uncovered. These sheep and goats also act as fire-fighting measures, cutting back flammable, dead plants.
Poisoned Plants Pose Threat To Fire Fighting Flock
While clearing out some plants in Stinson Beach, the fire prevention sheep and goats came across a poisonous plant. Billie Thibodeau noticed some of the animals weren’t doing so good. When she checked the ground they had been working on, she found snakeroot plants.
- “It was a private resident job on a property that hadn’t been managed for decades and was very outgrown,” she told ABC7 News.
Initially, she only lost a sheep. But, since then, she has lost 12 sheep and one goat from her fire prevention team. The rest of the animals that were working on the land are also in quarantine now, and she is keeping a close eye on their health.
- “I need to watch them, boost their health immune systems now,” said Thibodeau. “I rarely have sick animals because my herd is so healthy, shocking.”
The fire prevention sheep and goat are more of a passion project than an income source. Although it turns over a profit for the most part, it’s really just an environmentally friendly way to keep nature at bay.
“Those of us who do fire-fuel grazing do it because we love and care about the land,” she explained. “That’s why a lot of people don’t anymore. It’s really expensive.”
