Photos: Meet the Goat Gardeners of Prospect Park

• Pictured: Forestry technician Christoper Gucciardo introduces a young boy to Diego the Goat. Photos by John V. Santore

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — Contrary to popular belief, Larry Cihanek explained Wednesday, goats aren't fond of tin cans.

"They're actually fastidious animals," Cihanek, manager of Prospect Park's newly installed grounds crew, said — although fastidiousness is relative.

Skittles the Goat

Cihanek owns Green Goats, the upstate company that has rented eight goats to Prospect Park for the summer.

They'll be eating invasive plants that sprouted up in a 1.5 acre portion of the Zucker Natural Exploration Area, near the north end of the park, following Hurricane Sandy.

The storm knocked down numerous trees in the park, allowing sunlight to filter through and spur the growth of poison ivy and other unwanted species.

Fortunately, goats love poison ivy.

Cihanek said goats consume about 20 percent of their body weight per day, usually in 30-minute feeding sessions followed by two or three hours of digestive (and seemingly meditative) cud chewing.

Once they're done this fall, the Prospect Park Alliance will be able to begin restoring native plants, such as spice bush and types of oak.

The goats — Diego, Raptor, Max, Charlie Brown, Skittles, plus a mom, Zoya, and her two kids, Olivia and Reese — will be fenced in throughout the summer.

However, visitors strolling on the paths around the Exploration area will be able to peer in and see them at work.

Family-friendly, in-person goat meetings are scheduled for May 22 as part of a series of summer park events, including a parade to the Prospect Park Zoo.

Sue Donoghue, president of the Prospect Park Alliance, said that while the park hopes to involve the goats in additional events, they'll mostly be given their space.

That's for their benefit, and for ours, she explained: Goats can transfer poison ivy to those who touch them.

John Jordan, head landscaper for the Alliance, said that because goats can traverse the park's steep terrain more easily than humans, and because they eliminate the need to spray herbicides on unwanted plants, they're a "much more low-impact" approach to forestry restoration.

In Wednesday's sunshine, all seemed peaceful within the pen — although forestry technician Christopher Gucciardo noted, amused, that Max, the only pygmy goat in the bunch, has a bit of a "Napoleon complex."

"He likes to ram the other ones," Gucciardo said. (He didn't seem worried.) "They're like kids in a playground."

Max the Goat