As firefighters battle wildfires that have already burned nearly 300,000 acres in southwest Spain and France, the search is on for ways to prevent fires of this scale in the future. One solution might be in the hands – or hooves – of goats.
Why the goat is the G.O.A.T
Goats might sound like unlikely firefighters, but their role is preventative. They actually provide a “cost-effective and environmentally sound way” to clear shrubbery that would “otherwise feed a wildfire instead of a hungry herd”, said the Los Angeles Times. In California, where the size and intensity of wildfires have increased, 400 goats and 100 sheep have been deployed in Fresno to graze on yellow star thistle, a weed that can help to spread fires.
Goats are “particularly effective” at reducing flammable flora as they “happily consume” thorny shrubbery other animals tend to avoid. And sheep are good at reaching grasses and low-growing plants, said The Times of India. “Together, they provide an environmentally friendly alternative to bulldozers, lawnmowers and herbicides, especially on uneven or difficult terrain.” The animals consume seeds, as well as leaves, which limits the plant’s ability to spread further.
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It is not just goats and sheep. The cow breed Cachena is making a “comeback” in northwest Spain, for a similar purpose, said Reuters. A fire in 2017 prompted the community to turn to the “centuries-old wildfire prevention technique”. These “goat-like” smaller cows “eat almost anything” and can “negotiate mountainous terrain that larger cows can’t”. As well as creating firebreaks, their consumption of “gorse, brambles and scrub” also helps “preserve local ecosystems”, said Deustche Welle.
‘Regulatory attack’
Certain laws and regulations could put these “most effective fire-prevention specialists” under “regulatory attack”, said Reason Magazine. California’s minimum and overtime wage laws will now apply to “goat-herding companies” which “for decades” have been “largely exempt” from these rules. Given the “round-the-clock” nature of herding, this would make employing the companies “prohibitively expensive”. Owners of herding companies cannot “sustain” this new cost along with doing “fire fuels abatement”, said Tim Arrowsmith, owner of Western Grazers.
The recent wildfires in southwest Europe have been the “most painful manifestation” of the “climate emergency”, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told a climate conference this week. If these extreme crises are “no longer an exception”, but the rule, we need to look at solutions for future prevention.
