Airports are mini cities, often with their own firefighters, doctors and even priests. But goat herders (牧工)? Passengers flying out of San Francisco International Airport recently might have caught a glimpse of something strange: nearly 600 goats chewing away at overgrown weed. Each spring the airport needs to remove the brush in a remote comer to protect nearby homes from possible fires.
For the past seven years, the airport has turned to Goats R Us, a goat-powered brush removal company, which charged US $34, 900 for the service this year. A large amount, isn't it? Why not employ machines on humans? Two endangered species, the San Francisco garter snake (束带蛇) and the California red-legged frog, live there. Thus, this humane approach has been adopted to secure their peaceful life.
What do the herders and their dogs do? There's always a goat or two that would like to take a different path. "Just as a kindergarten teacher knows which kids need a little extra attention, so we will make sure the dogs can target the 'naughty goats' to keep them secure, " says Terri Oyarzun, co-owner of Goats R Us. When asked how to lead goats to the next plot of plants. Terri says, "It's effortless. You know, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence? Goats were the inspiration for that philosophy. "
The goats travel 30 miles each spring from their home in Orinda, California to the airport in a 16-wheel truck. They spend two weeks cutting away a 20-foot firebreak on the west side of the airport. When Oyarzun's mats aren't clearing brush at the airport, they are busy doing similar work on the side of California's free-ways, at state parks, and anywhere else with overgrown vegetation. The family has about 8, 000 total active goats, nearly twice that of three years ago.
