First she got her nannies and billies. Then she got Pacific Palisades' goat.
And now the four-legged weed-eaters that Linda Schilcher hoped would nibble a firebreak around her Westside neighborhood are instead carving a rift right down the middle of it.
Schilcher has assembled a small herd of grazing goats that she puts to work each day clearing brush on hillsides above Pacific Palisades and Brentwood. While she looks for a permanent place to keep them, the animals sleep at night in a covered trailer in front of her home in the 600 block of Enchanted Way.
Some residents of the neighborhood, with its $1.5-million ocean-view homes, see the goats as a cute addition. But others say they are a nuisance that should be packed up and taken out of town.
Leaders of the Marquez Knolls Neighborhood Assn., representing 1,475 homes in the area, say they have tried over the last two months to persuade Los Angeles police, animal control officers and zoning inspectors to get rid of the goats. There have been complaints about the goats' smell and their droppings.
"This is a residential area, and some people don't want them here. I called the police and they laughed. They said, 'Do you want us to arrest the goats? They aren't parked illegally,' " said Kurt Toppel, president of the homeowners group.
"Having goats here doesn't seem to be an infraction. But why not? It should be."
Schilcher says association officials have warned her that if the goats aren't gone by the end of this week, they will seek a municipal ordinance specifically prohibiting goat-keeping on city streets.
Currently, goats are banned from being raised on property not zoned for agricultural use. Permanent pens and goat sheds are not allowed on small, residential-size lots.
But they can be kept in properly registered vehicles parked on public streets, provided the animals are being humanely treated and the vehicle is moved every three days. Schilcher tows her straw-lined, water trough-equipped trailer each day to nearby canyons to graze the goats, so she meets those requirements.
Schilcher said she has tried to assure everyone that the mobile goat pen is temporary until she can find suitable open space for the animals.
She intends to use movable fencing and shelters so the goats do not have to be transported daily by vehicle.
Finding such land has been harder than expected, however. Even though property owners face tough brush-clearance requirements, none of those Schilcher has contacted have invited her goats to move in.
