Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe 600 goats clearing weeds from reserve BOISE, Idaho, July 22 (UPI) -- Officials in an Idaho city said they are employing a team of 600 goats to eat weeds in a 680-acre nature reserve. Advertisement Julia Grant with the city of Boise said the project at the Polecat Gulch Reserve is the first time goats have been used by the city for landscaping, KTVB-TV, Boise, reported Thursday. "Goats have been proven to be a very efficient manager of weeds," Grant said. Lynda Linquist, who owns We Rent Goats in Wilder with her husband, said the city hired their animals to clear the skeletonweed from the reserve. "It's a noxious weed, it comes in and takes over and chokes out the native plants. Our objective is to bring the goats in and they eat it and the way goats eat, they break it down and the then the seeds don't reproduce," Linquist said. Advertisement Grant said the goats are a more environmentally friendly alternative to weed sprays. "We decided to try goats because they access areas where you don't want to be driving an ATV to spray weeds through the Foothills this time of the year for fear that you're going to light a fire," Grant said. Group wants Coney Island nude beach NEW YORK, July 22 (UPI) -- The American Association for Nude Recreation said it would like to see a designated nude beach at Coney Island in New York. Tom Mulhall, a spokesman for the association, said Coney Island would make a good location for a nude beach "because it's so easy to get to by mass transit, and it would certainly attract more Europeans and out-of-state tourists to New York, because they would finally have a convenient place to sunbathe nude," the New York Post reported Thursday. However, city officials said they have no plans to add a nude beach as part of Coney Island revitalization efforts. The association said the current closest nude beaches to the city are located in Fire Island, N.Y., and Sandy Hook, N.J. However, city laws allow for women to go topless on city beaches if they choose. Advertisement Mich. man finds grenade in storage unit MUSKEGON, Mich., July 22 (UPI) -- Firefighters in Michigan said a man turned in a live hand grenade he discovered in a storage unit he won in an auction. Egelston Township Fire Department Deputy Chief Dan Willea said the Muskegon man brought the grenade, which was live but still had its pin intact, to the station at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, The Muskegon Chronicle reported Thursday. "He walked up to the desk and said 'I have something I think you're going to want to see,'" Willea said. Willea said the Michigan State Police bomb squad was called in from Grand Rapids to transport the grenade back to their headquarters, where the device is likely to be subjected to an X-ray and destroyed. The man said he found the grenade in a storage unit he purchased in an auction. "He absolutely did the right thing by bringing it in," Willea said. Bear spent weeks with jar over head NEWPORT, Tenn., July 22 (UPI) -- Animal authorities in Tennessee said they were able to track down and help a bear that had a plastic jar stuck on its head for at least three weeks. Advertisement The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said they received the first report of a bear with a plastic jar stuck over its head June 28 near the Newport water plant and the animal was next spotted in the same area July 4, The Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel reported Thursday. However, the bear evaded officers until Cocke County wildlife officer Shelley Hammonds responded to a report and was able to tranquilize the animal near a pawn shop in downtown Newport. The jar was removed and the bear was released after the tranquilizer effects wore off. Officials said the bear was about 85 pounds underweight.
