Dozens of Goats Wreck Havoc on Idaho Neighborhood, Eating Flower Bushes & Trees
Plenty of people have had extensive interaction with household pets like cats and dogs. They’re fairly common and well-understood staples of family life and childhood.
But how many people have personal, hands-on experience with critters like sheep and goats? They’re the same size as some dogs, but totally unlike them in so many ways.
Beyond brief interactions with the critters at petting zoos and the local county fair, most people don’t know much about them beyond the facts that they like to climb things and they will eat just about anything.
They’re not picky: good plants, bad plants, dry plants, fresh plants. If it used to be alive and green at some point, they will gladly test it out.
This causes problems for some sheep and goat owners because the herd will descend like a cloud of locust and strip everything bare. A lush, grassy pen will turn into a dirt lot, and even thorny plants like Bougainvillea pose little challenge to the notorious chompers.
The awesome power of goat appetite was put on full display in Idaho last Friday when goats got loose. Not just a few goats: 118.
According to KTVB, the West Boise neighborhood was greeted by the obnoxious number of critters at around 7:00 a.m. They made their way from yard to yard, browsing and enjoying flowerbed delicacies.
“My mom was shaking me up like crazy, and she was like ‘Ben, come outside!’ and I was like ‘what, what?'” one resident said. “I looked out, and I was like, ‘oh dang.'”
“Half the neighborhood’s lawn has been cut – I mean, mowing for free!” he said. “It’s kind of funny to see them in the road a ton, like not even caring about the cars.”
Most people seemed amused and gawked at the giant herd of goats wreaking havoc as they went along. The human kids in the neighborhood enjoyed the diversion.
“When we walked around the corner, we didn’t realize how many goats there would be,” a young resident named Grace said. “They kind of just like took over this neighborhood this morning.”
Turns out, the herd belongs to a woman named Kim Gabica, whose business (aptly named “We Rent Goats”) consists of loaning out the herd to people who need weed abatement. They were working on a nearby project when they found a way out.
“They’re very creative escape artists, sometimes, so just when you think you have all the containment figured out, they find a way that you didn’t think of,” Gabica said.
Fortunately, the goats are contained once more (for now), and the neighborhood can focus on “recovering.”
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