The upstate New York goats that ate their way through dense tangles of poison ivy at a historic fort on the New Jersey coast last year are headed back to the bastion for seconds, according to a published report.
Twenty-six Nubian goats from Rhinebeck, New York, are headed to the Gateway National Recreation Area to chew through thickets of poison ivy at Fort Hancock, the Asbury Park Press reports.
The goats, which will eat just about anything, were first called to the fort, which protected New York Harbor during World War II, last summer when landscapers told park officials that they wouldn't go inside the fortress because of the toxic vegetation.
Last year, the Sandy Hook Foundation paid $12,000 to have about a dozen goats graze the six-acre site in a trial run. The initiative was deemed a success, the newspaper reports, so the National Park Service decided to pick up the tab for more goats this year.
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Goat herder Larry Cihanek told the Asbury Park Press that typically 20 to 40 percent of the poison ivy roots regrow after one season of grazing, but he thinks a second round could get rid of the plants for good.
Earlier this year, the goats were called in to munch on invasive plants in Southampton. Cihanek's goats have also been used to clear up poison ivy at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
