About 400 goats are roaming the hills in Universal City to help with the risk of a wildfire. Lynette Romero reports for the NBC4 News at 6 a.m. on March 21, 2025.
The hills near Universal City are filled with goats this week as the animals work to clear brush.
“They just want to eat everything,” said Bryce Mason, the senior vice president of facilities at NBCUniversal. “Grass, big, small, doesn't matter. They eat everything that fire likes to consume.”
The herd of 400 goats are a part of the fire suppression efforts at Universal.
“We have difficulty getting to these hillsides, and they just eat them up,” Mason said. “They love the hillsides. It's not really all that safe for us to have power equipment on hillsides.”
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Mason added that crews do clear brush, pull down limbs, old trees and anything combustible year round.
The goats are led by two herding dogs, Buster and Steve.
The dogs, Great Pyrenees and Anatolian Shepherds, are fully immersed with the goats.
“Essentially, they think they're goats,” said Jorden Andersen, the senior director of facilities operations and engineering at NBCUniversal. “They're not brought in the house. They don't hang out with people. The idea is like they want them socialized with them, understanding them.”
One of the dog’s jobs is to protect the goats from coyotes.
“Buster is always in the lead. He actually goes through, and he will check every single fence and every single bush before the rest of the herd comes through,” Andersen said. “And Steve will stay with the goats, and none of that's trained. It's all instinctual.
The goats have already cleared 40 acres and will remain snacking on the brush for at least another week.
