Sixteen goats and sheep are likely dead less than three years after Portsmouth bought them to trim the grass at the Craney Island landfill.
The landscaping plan failed, its organizers are gone, and now administrators can’t account for most of the animals.
“We just haven’t been able to locate them,” said Erin Trimyer, the city’s director of public utilities. “I can’t tell you specifically if it was a coyote or what other wildlife is out there, but it is our assumption that the rest of the animals have passed away.”
At a work session last month, City Manager Lydia Pettis Patton suggested to council members that they had been killed by coyotes and “other wildlife.”
Only two nanny goats live there now, roaming free as the hardy vestiges of an expensive landscaping flop. Landfill supervisor Chris Bower, who inherited the animals from his predecessor, now watches over them by making sure they have the basics: fresh water, a healthy diet and shelter from the elements.
