Grazing hell: 200 escaped goats hoof it through California neighborhood

Nature is healing, and in some parts of northern California, nature is revolting.

About 200 goats broke through a fence in San Jose and briefly stormed the streets of a residential neighborhood on Tuesday evening, in clear violation of social distancing guidelines as well as the state shelter-in-place order.

The goats had been coming by to eat through the vegetation on a hill in the neighborhood for the past 12 years, Zach Roelands, 23, a neighborhood resident who captured the madness on video, said.

They had been hopping on his neighbor’s fence, which created a hole. “Next thing you know they’re in the front yard eating everything in sight,” Roelands said.

In the video, some goats paused to pull up plants and flowers from nearby yards before following the rest of the herd, much to the chagrin of residents. Neighbors were panicked at first, trying to keep the goats away from their landscaping, but then mostly amused, Roelands said. “The goats have come for the past 12 years but this was the most entertaining they’ve been,” he said.

The goats were rounded up and under control within minutes but “everyone had to spend the next hour or so picking up their poop”, Roelands said.

Goats have long been used as environmentally friendly landscapers in the west, especially when it comes to wildfire management. They chew their way through brush, vegetation and weeds, eating up potential fodder for flames and creating natural fuel breaks.