State enlists goats to protect turtles
Baltimore Sun file photo /1999
The State Highway Administration has come up with a creative solution to the question of how to cut the grass in the vicinity of its Hampstead Bypass project without imperiling the already-threatened bog turtle (above) and its Carroll County habitat: goats.
The agency is using a local farmer's herd of 40 goats to act as four-legged lawnmowers in the construction zone. It said traditional mechanical lawnmoers posed a danger to both the boggy wetlands and the reptiles themselves.
According to the SHA, it considered using cattle but decided they were too big to interact safely with the 4-inch bog turtle. The goats are scheduled to be on the job this month through September. Then, presumably, they go back to school.
Comments
For about 4 years in the late 90s there was a group of goats that lived among the trees between the US-29 S/I-70E ramp and Rt. 29.
Then, one sad day, Animal Control took them all away.
Posted by: Peter | May 22, 2009 7:02 PM