Heathmont: Goats munching weeds along Belgrave line invade HE Parker Reserve cricket oval

Members of an outer east cricket club were most definitely hit for six when some unusual pitch invaders got onto the ground.

Goats broke out of an enclosure and onto Heathmont's HE Parker Reserve on February 20. Picture: Michelle Miller.

A tribe of goats munching on weeds on an outer east railway line have become unexpected pitch invaders at a local cricket club.

The 11 goats, who are helpling remove weeds in hard-to-reach areas near train tracks, suddenly rocked up at HE Parker Reserve on February 20 at 10pm.

Leader understands the goats were let out of their nearby enclosure by an unknown person or group of people, and left quite a few “droppings” on the oval and surrounding footpaths.

A similar incident is believed to have taken place the night before.

Resident Michelle Miller, who captured pictures of the goats’ adventure, said members of the Heathmont Cricket Club and a group of women preparing for a night out were able to direct the goats onto the nearby football oval, which had fencing to keep them secured.

The goats were then rescued by project staff and herded back to their enclosure later in the night.

“It was definitely unusual and amusing,” Ms Miller told Leader.

“There was lots of laughter and comments around there being 11 goats at the cricket club and also about how many ‘goats’ a cricket club needs.

“There was also concern about how they got out, I understand it would have taken a bit of effort”.

The goats have been brought to Heathmont by the Heathmont Buschare Group and contractor GrazeAway to help remove weeds on railway reserve land without the use of chemicals.

It followed the success of nearby Knox Council introducing a goat patrol to clean up weeds in parts of Quarry Reserve in Upper Ferntree Gully.

They began chomping away at the start of February after the Bushcare group recieved a federal government grant for the project and helped build an enclosure for them to stay in.

GrazeAway’s Colin Arnold said he was “incredibly dissapointed” by the motives of those who let the goats out and it was the first time in 15 years such an incident had occurred.

Mr Arnold said he was addressing security issues at the enclosure.

The Bushcare group has been contacted for comment, while Maroondah Council stated it was not involved in the project.

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