- Title: 'They're baaaaack' - Dozens of goats eat their way through Riverside Park
- Date: 14th July 2021
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 14, 2021) (REUTERS) SPECTATORS COUNTING DOWN TO THE "RUNNING OF THE GOATS" IN RIVERSIDE PARK VARIOUS OF GOATS VARIOUS OF CHILD WITH GOAT VARIOUS OF GOAT ISABELLA JARROLD, 17, AND SOFIA COULIBALY, 18, TAKING PHOTOS OF THE GOATS ON THEIR PHONES (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPECTATORS, ISABELLA JARROLD AND SOFIA COULIBALY, SAYING: ISABELLA JARROLD: "I went to this petting zoo when I was a kid, and there's this one goat, I still remember its name. Its name was Seymour and it was the sweetest goat ever, and it just let me pet it and pet it. And it was so sweet. And that's why I love goats and just... they make me so happy. Why do you love them?" SOFIA COULIBALY: "I love goats because wherever they go, they're just like vibing, eating the plants." ISABELLA JARROLD: "Yeah, they're just goats, the Greatest Of All Time." SOFIA COULIBALY: "It's hard not to love them, honestly. They're so cute." VARIOUS OF GOATS BETH LINSKEY, 80, FILMING THE GOATS ON HER PHONE GOAT EATING (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPECTATOR, BETH LINSKEY, SAYING: "They're just a really nice, kind animal and they really don't do much but take care of things for you, and then they give us this great goat cheese, a little chevre is always good." VARIOUS OF GOATS IN TRAILER SON OF LARRY CIHANEK, OWNER OF GREEN GOATS, JORDON MARTINS-CIHANECK, SAYING: "On top of how cute they are, I guess, not only can they eat a lot of their body weight, but they'll actually neutralize the seeds so they won't get replanted next year. And you know they'll work longer days than the landscapers." VARIOUS OF THE "FABULOUS FIVE" GOATS THAT ARE ALSO IN A CAMPAIGN TO BE THE TOP GOAT. THE PUBLIC WILL VOTE IN A RANKED-CHOICE VOTING SYSTEM, WITH THE WINNER CROWNED THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME BY THE END OF THE SUMMER (SOUNDBITE) (English) SON OF LARRY CIHANEK, OWNER OF GREEN GOATS, JORDON MARTINS-CIHANECK, SAYING: "There's a lot of misconceptions that fuel how cool they are, like they could eat anything. But honestly, I think that they're just emotionally intelligent and they connect with people a lot." VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PETTING GOAT VARIOUS OF SPECTATORS GOAT LOOKING INTO CAMERA RIVERSIDE PARK CONSERVANCY PRESIDENT AND CEO, DAN GARODNICK, PETTING GOAT, WITH U.S. DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE, JERROLD JERRY NADLER (SOUNDBITE) (English) RIVERSIDE PARK CONSERVANCY PRESIDENT AND CEO, DAN GARODNICK, SAYING: "I am delighted to welcome all 24 goats that have joined us for the ceremonial 'Running of the Goats' in Riverside Park." GOAT GETTING PETTED (SOUNDBITE) (English) RIVERSIDE PARK CONSERVANCY PRESIDENT AND CEO, DAN GARODNICK, SAYING: "As part of our Woodland Restoration Initiative two years ago, we unleashed a very hungry group of goats into a stretch of the park that had been overrun with invasive plants. And wow, did they exceed expectations. We called it 'Goatham' because we put the 'goat' in Gotham. They chowed down on Japanese knotweed, they noshed on porcelain berry, they snacked on multiflora rose, they easily traversed the hard to reach terrain behind me and gulped down poison ivy without even giving it a second thought. Since goats are naturally effective weed whackers, putting them to work in Goatham is like treating them to an all-you-can-eat buffet. It's healthy for the goats and it's good for the environment. That's farm to table." GARODNICK PETTING GOAT (SOUNDBITE) (English) RIVERSIDE PARK CONSERVANCY PRESIDENT AND CEO, DAN GARODNICK, SAYING: "Today, we are happy to say that they are baaaaaack. From Green Goats Farm in Rhinebeck, New York, each retired from past careers and ready to help us care for this incredible and unique public space."
- Embargoed: 28th July 2021 21:45
- Keywords: Riverside Park goats overgrown weeds pesticides
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Human Interest/Brights/Odd News,Society/Social Issues,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001ELTBD5L
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Two dozen goats from Green Goats farm in Rhinebeck, New York journeyed to Riverside Park in Manhattan to munch on invasive weeds on Wednesday (July 14).
"As part of our Woodland Restoration Initiative two years ago, we unleashed a very hungry group of goats into a stretch of the park that had been overrun with invasive plants," said Dan Garodnick, Riverside Park Conservancy president and CEO. "They chowed down on Japanese knotweed, they noshed on porcelain berry, they snacked on multiflora rose, they easily traversed the hard to reach terrain behind me and gulped down poison ivy without even giving it a second thought. Since goats are naturally effective weed whackers, putting them to work in Goatham is like treating them to an all-you-can-eat buffet. It's healthy for the goats and it's good for the environment. That's farm to table."
It's an environmentally friendly win-win for invasive species removal at Riverside Park - the goats get to feast on overgrown brush and Riverside Park Conservancy doesn't have to dump harsh chemicals on weeds and poison ivy.
Goats are an ingenious approach to weed removal, harnessing the goat's natural hunger for leafy greens as the primary mechanism behind the task, which traditionally involves pollutant chemicals. They even eat species dangerous to humans, like poison ivy.
Of the 24 goats, five will call Riverside Park its home through the end of August, eating their way through two acres of the park. And of those five goats, Buckles, Chalupa, Mallemar, Ms. Bo Peep and Skittles, the public can vote in a ranked-choice voting system to determine which goat will be crowned the Greatest Of All Time. The winner will be announced by the end of the summer.
(Production: Roselle Chen, Hussein Al Waaile) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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