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Don't get me wrong, we definitely needed all the winter rains (see: the drought, the forthcoming freshwater apocalypse), but there are certain reprecussions we need to expect now (let's not get into the spider super-bloom). Most pressing may be the elevated risk of wildfires in the coming years—but don't fret, the goats are on the job!
As has been tradition at the start of every summer since 2008, the goats have been brought in to clear the brush and weeds along downtown's Angels Knoll (which you may know from 500 Days of Summer and the Angels Flight funicular).
"In 2008, instead of using pollution-spewing lawnmowers, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, which owns the knoll near Broadway and 4th Street, shipped in 100 goats to eat the weeds and other delicious plant life," the Los Angeles Times noted in 2010, adding that the goat rental cost in 2008 was about $3,000, or half the cost of having human beings clear the knoll's growth.
The Huffington Post adds that the grazers' species is the Boer South African Goat. "It only takes about a week for the goats to clear the knoll, and at no extra charge they fertilize the land naturally," the Times continues.
Earlier this year, the global real estate investment firm Jones Lang LaSalle along with the City of Los Angeles, began a push to sell Angels Knoll. According to marketing information from the firm, the 2.26-acre site offers "unlimited height" entitlements, and "nearly 1.3 million developable square feet...At the convergence of Downtown’s most dynamic employment centers, entertainment hubs and retail neighborhoods."
We're not sure if the goats are aware of this incredible development opportunity, but, for the meantime, they're happy munching away.
