Detroit Goats

Detroit Forces Hedge Fund Manager To Take Back His Goats

Mark Spitznagel, head of the $6 billion Universa Investments hedge fund, was forced by the city of Detroit to remove the 20 goats he had brought to graze in a blighted neighborhood .

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A hedge fund manager’s plan to let goats graze in a blighted Detroit neighborhood has derailed after a city-imposed deadline to remove the animals passed on Monday at noon.
Mark Spitznagel, head of the $6 billion Universa Investments hedge fund, had brought 20 goats to Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood last week from his Northport, Mich., farm. 

The hedge fund manager’s original plan was to bring up to 60 goats to Detroit to help cut down on the grass in overgrown, abandoned neighborhoods and promote urban farming.

Spitznagel has invested millions in commercial real estate around Detroit.

He hopes to use the goats, part of what he’s dubbed the Idyll Farms Detroit project, in a variety of ways to help Detroit residents, including hiring unemployed community members to build housing and fencing for the goats, recruiting youths to herd them, and, at the end of the summer ...


Link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mariahsummers/detroit-forces-hedge-fund-manager-to-take-back-his-goats

Goats balancing on a flexible steel ribbon

Link: http://youtu.be/58-atNakMWw

Weed-Munching Goats

 (Credit: The Detroit News, Max Ortiz/AP Photo)



Weed-Munching Goats Run Out of Detroit

 By Dean Schabner Jun 7, 2014

Goats brought in to clean up part of a Detroit neighborhood are getting the boot, after it was discovered that a city ordinance bans farm and wild animals.

The 18 goats were supposed to munch weeds and other troublesome vegetation from a four-acre lot, after which the land would be converted to an urban farming project.

“Once the vegetation was cleaned up, then we would have the volunteers come in, take the trash out of the area, and using the goats and the volunteers we would be clearing this ground for future agricultural use,” said Kevin Pollara, a consultant for the project in Brightmoor, a neighborhood on the city’s west side.

He said the project, called Idyll Farms Detroit, would have been a success, but the animals will be removed.

 But he said the group will still try to get the city to change its mind about the farm project, and plans to reach out to the Mayor and the city council to try to get the ordinance changed.

Some said the farm could have helped with a renaissance in Detroit.

Weed-Munching Goats Run Out of Detroit - ABC News: "

Link: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/06/weed-munching-goats-run-out-of-detroit/