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Goats Enlisted to Protect Endangered Turtles
That’s right — goats! When mowing practices were found dangerously harmful to bog turtles in Maryland, a different (more ancient) mowing technique was employed.
“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 lawnmowers 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.” See full article.
