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The Paris City Council has enlisted sheep as lawnmowers, as part of its pilot project.
Four sheep from Ouessent Island, off the coast of Brittany were selected to take over a gardener’s job, and also for their small size—they stand barely over two-feet tall, and are considered hardy and too small to be eaten—which makes them easier to transport between sites.
Over the next six months, the grass-guzzling living ‘lawn-mowers’ need to keep a 2,000-square meter grass patch neatly trimmed, as a trial.
And if the low-tech program (known as eco-grazing) is successful, sheep will be seen replacing mechanical lawnmowers throughout the French capital’s public spaces.
The black shaggy sheep are seen as an environmentally-friendly alternative, as they reduce cost, noise and air pollution, and the use of pesticides and fuel—and they help fertilize plants as well.
“Motorized lawn mowers make a lot of noise, and they also consume fossil fuels and sometimes electricity,” Fabienne Giboudeaux, Paris City Hall's director of Green Spaces told BBC. “ It’s not very rewarding work for gardeners, pushing these machines around. It’s tiring.”
Currently, the sheep are monitored by a security guard and can be found on a lawn behind a high, electrified fence during the day—at nights, they can be found at a Paris Farm.
You can find the unusual sight, of sheep grazing grass in urban Paris, near a grass patch located near the Municipal Archive buildings in the 19th Arrondissement.
[via BBC]
The Paris City Council has enlisted sheep as lawnmowers, as part of its pilot project.
Four sheep from Ouessent Island, off the coast of Brittany were selected to take over a gardener’s job, and also for their small size—they stand barely over two-feet tall, and are considered hardy and too small to be eaten—which makes them easier to transport between sites.
Over the next six months, the grass-guzzling living ‘lawn-mowers’ need to keep a 2,000-square meter grass patch neatly trimmed, as a trial.
And if the low-tech program (known as eco-grazing) is successful, sheep will be seen replacing mechanical lawnmowers throughout the French capital’s public spaces.
The black shaggy sheep are seen as an environmentally-friendly alternative, as they reduce cost, noise and air pollution, and the use of pesticides and fuel—and they help fertilize plants as well.
“Motorized lawn mowers make a lot of noise, and they also consume fossil fuels and sometimes electricity,” Fabienne Giboudeaux, Paris City Hall's director of Green Spaces told BBC. “ It’s not very rewarding work for gardeners, pushing these machines around. It’s tiring.”
Currently, the sheep are monitored by a security guard and can be found on a lawn behind a high, electrified fence during the day—at nights, they can be found at a Paris Farm.
You can find the unusual sight, of sheep grazing grass in urban Paris, near a grass patch located near the Municipal Archive buildings in the 19th Arrondissement.
[via BBC]