In 2016 and 2017, Prospect Park Alliance hired a few seasonal employees—the goats. These goats are not the first domesticated creatures kept in the park by any means.

Sheep
At the turn of the twentieth century, it was common practice to use sheep to maintain grass in urban parks. In Prospect Park, a flock of sheep grazed the Long Meadow, with lambs so tame that they ate from children’s palms. Prospect Park’s flock of sheep was a fixture into the 1930s, and served both aesthetic and practical purposes. As a design element, the sheep lent a fairy-tale air replete with tending shepherds and dogs, while they kept the Long Meadow cropped and fertilized.