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O'Hare Airport Looking For A Few Good Goats

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Sep 14, 2012 8:40PM

O'Hare Airport is looking to hire a few good goats. No, not as TSA agents. According to Fox Chicago, the Chicago Department of Aviation put out a bid to find a herder with about 30 goats to graze on a hard-to-reach stretch of grass. They say it's outside of the security fence, so there won't be goats running all over the runways.

Amy Malick, from the CDA, told Fox the city is considering a pilot program of about 30 goats to eat grass in a hard-to-mow area.

"They may have steep slopes, very hard to get to with heavy machinery, and those machines also emit pollution," Malick told Fox. "They're burning fossil fuel. So as a sustainability initiative we're looking to bring in animals that do not have emissions associated with them, at least to the same extent that heavy machinery would."

The grazing animals would also keep birds from settling in that area. It's best not to let too many birds around other large flying objects. Malick told the Sun-Times the herder must have at least 25 animals, and it doesn't have to be a goat. "Sheep, goats &mdash it could be any grazing animal. We don't discriminate," she said. Equal opportunity employer, indeed.