PDX Employs New Furry Lawnmowers

If you’re travelling through Portland International Airport in the next few weeks, be prepared to see some interesting animals at work!

A large patch of land with overgrown grass and weeds just outside of the airfield has been accessible to lawnmowers and left to grow, causing issues with coyotes creating dens in blackberry bushes and the loss of native plants.

With the only other solution being chemical pesticides, which would not only damage the environment but also the area’s native wildlife, PDX have hired some 40 goats from the company Goat Power to munch down on the unwanted plants.

Their shepherdess Brianna Murphy has taken her hungry workforce all over to Portland, clearing ground at schools, vineyards and private residences. This is their first time at an airport, although they have quickly gotten used to the sound of planes overhead.

The forty goats are also joined by the watchful Monty, a llama capable of not only alerting the herd to potential danger but also defence against predators such as coyotes.

Over three weeks the herd is estimated to clear around five acres of the land. Last year, Chicago O’Hare airport ran a similar initiative, using twenty four goats, llamas, sheep and burros to mow their lawns. San Francisco, Atlanta and Seattle also regularly use this low-tech method of mowing.

These aren’t the first animals in use at Portland airport, either. A border collie named Fish is used to keep birds away from the runway, and a number of beehives on the airport property are used to conduct research into the breeding of a Pacific Northwest queen bee.