Goats Hired to Clean Up O’Hare

CHICAGO — As part of a Sustainable Vegetation Management initiative, officials at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in August launched an environmental pilot program that uses goats, sheep, llamas and wild burros to eat the overgrown grass and cattails at the far northeastern corner of the 8,000-acre airport.

The 25 animals are free to eat as much vegetation in the allotted 120 acres of dense vegetation until weather no longer permits grazing and then they will start up again in the summer and fall of 2014. The animals are separated from the runway by fencing.

When the Department of Aviation posted the job ad, it set off a bid war between several interested herders, according to The Associated Press. The $19,500, two-year contract was awarded to Central Commissary Holdings LLC, which raises a small herd of goats to produce cheese for the Butcher & the Burger restaurant, owned by chef Al Sterweiler. The company also supplemented animals from Settler’s Pond Animal Shelter, a nonprofit that cares for 350 rescue animals.

The economic benefits, according to Chicago officials, are that the initiative will decrease landscape maintenance costs, provide an alternative to toxic herbicides and eliminate the use of equipment that produces emissions. It also helps reduce habitat for wildlife that pose safety concern for flight operations near the airport. For example, rabbits that hide in grasses attract birds of prey that can get in the path of planes departing and landing. Plus, it provides a more efficient way of removing vegetation along steep embankments, as well as rocky and wooded areas, that are difficult to maintain with traditional mowing.

Other airports in San Francisco, Atlanta and Seattle have similar programs. For instance, San Francisco International uses a company called Goats R Us each spring to clean up brush in hopes of protecting nearby homes from possible fires.