Goats return to Reagan Library to eat and create a firebreak

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — More than 350 goats are using their mouths to help protect The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum from wildfire danger.

The herd returned this week to eat brush around the institution’s campus in the Southern California community of Simi Valley.

What happens when California is approaching summer? You guessed it. The goats pay us a visit! and this time, they are hungrier than ever. Thank you @VCFD for our annual fire abatement program! pic.twitter.com/C6KJNjsyhP

— The Reagan Foundation and Institute (@RonaldReagan) May 4, 2021

The goats create a firebreak between the natural vegetation and the facility, library spokeswoman Melissa Giller told the Ventura County Star.

Goats were credited with helping keep the library safe from a wildfire in 2019.

“During the huge fires a year and a half ago, many of the firefighters who were battling the fire that came within feet of the library said that it was the perimeter created by the goats that allowed them to fight the fire and stop it from getting onto our campus,” Giller said.

This year there is not as much for the goats to eat because there has been little rain and little vegetation regrowth, said Capt. Robert Welsbie, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department.