Keio University Students at Shonan Fujisawa Campus Welcome 2 Goats; Animals Brought in to Clear out Weeds
The goats are staying at the dorm, named H (pronounced 'eta') Village, as part of Yagi Project, which was established by students at the dorm. The students started the project with the aim of getting goats to eat the weeds on the grounds of the dorm and to facilitate interactions with people inside and outside the university.
On May 29, the goats were running around freely on the grounds, which has a steep slope.A ceremony to celebrate their arrival was held on the day, with about 50 students and university officials in attendance.
'They are twin goats born in 2020; Kai is a male and Mayu is a female,' said one of the students who participated in the project, eliciting a round of applause from the attendees.
The dorm opened in the spring of 2023, and about 260 students at the campus live in the dorm now, with about 30% of them originating from outside Japan.
The students have played central roles in managing the dorm's affairs and planning events.
The project was prompted by a casual remark by Jiro Kitazaki, who looks after the dorm. Weeds were growing out of control on the grounds, and Kitazaki and another person had been dealing with them.
Second-year students Misaki Iio and Misa LoPresti heard Kitazaki complain when he was removing the weeds. 'I wish we had goats …'
It was that remark that prompted the students to consider enlisting goats to do the weeding.
From around October last year, the pair started researching other universities in the prefecture that introduced goats for weeding. They also visited Shonan Yagi no Sato, a nonprofit in nearby Chigasaki that promotes weeding with the animal.
Iio and LoPresti visited the facility every two weeks for six months, learning about goats and how to take care of them.
Satomi Okamoto, an official of Shonan Yagi no Sato, said that goats eat any kind of weed other than poisonous ones, so only water and salt need to be prepared for them. Additionally, the ecosystem and soil can be protected because no chemical herbicides are used.
'Goats have a high degree of physicality and skills to move on slopes, so they can be put to use in places that human hands cannot reach,' Okamoto said, adding that among herbivores, goats are especially suited to eliminating weeds.
In the end, it was decided that Shonan Yagi no Sato would lend two goats to the dorm.
Other students in the dorm became interested in the plan and joined the pair. Now, the group comprises about 45 students. The group held daily meetings late into the night to discuss the plan.
The group's members, with their diverse backgrounds and fields of study, have brought their knowledge and skills to the project. For example, a student studying architecture designed a barn for the goats, and all the members pitched in to build it.
Another member developed an app with both Japanese and English support so that anybody can help look after the goats. Users input data on the condition of the goats' droppings and their appetites to visualize the animals' health.
Going forward, a student studying soil analysis will monitor how the goats affect biodiversity in nearby areas.
The two goats will stay at the dormitory until the end of July, and a second set of goats are scheduled to be welcomed around October.
The students said they hope to create opportunities to get locals to interact with the goats.
The nonprofit, which lends goats to clear weeds in abandoned arable land and vacant lots mainly in Chigasaki, hopes that the students' project will help promote animal-based weeding.
'The members fed off each other's energy and finally succeeded in getting the goats settled,' LoPresti said. 'I feel a sense of achievement now.'
Iio said: 'Though it's a student-led project, we've received help from so many people. I want to create a system that gives the fruits of our learning back to the local community.'
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