Goats roam the streets of San Jose, California, after nearly 200 of them escaped an enclosure in the Silver Creek neighborhood on May 12, 2020.

As millions of people around the world stay at home in an effort to fight the pandemic (global outbreak) of the coronavirus disease COVID-19, days may seem largely the same. But on Tuesday, May 12, residents of one neighborhood in San Jose, California, peeked out their windows to see a strange sight: 200 goats roaming the streets!

One hungry goat was trying to eat a flower when it broke through an electric fence. Hundreds of goats followed—they found a way out! They soon streamed into a nearby neighborhood and continued eating plants in residents’ front yards.

You might be thinking, “You’ve goat to be kidding me. Does someone in that neighborhood have 200 pet goats?” Sort of. One resident of the neighborhood was using the goats to clear the dead grass from a nearby hill that had caught fire more than 15 years ago. Dead grass can act as tinder for a fire.

Goats use their small mouths and flexible lips to pick off the leaves, fruits, and flowers of plants.

Clearing dead grass is a common task for goats. Cattle and sheep ranchers use goats to clear brush and other unwanted plants from their pastures. Goats can even clear poison ivy. Unlike humans, goats do not have a baaaaa’d reaction to poison ivy. They are not allergic to the harmful plant and scarf it straight down. In fact, voracious goats can destroy all plant life in an area if they are not carefully controlled. Luckily for the local landscaping, the 200 goats were soon corralled and returned to their ranchland.