SAN FRANCISCO -- A fleet of hungry goats has been cleaning up hillsides at the University of San Francisco for the past month, part of a new, eco-friendly approach to weed control and fire prevention.

"In pursuing our goal to adopt more sustainable solutions, using goats is based on a natural process," said USF Environmental Safety Manager Joe Murphy. He said the goats help reduce the school's use of gas-powered lawn mowers, weed whackers and other noisy and polluting equipment.

"The goats are quiet, efficient, cute and the neighbors love them," Murphy said.

The animals, hired from San Francisco-based City Grazing, are used in particularly hard-to-reach areas, such as steep hillsides and areas with a lot of brush or poison oak, according to university spokeswoman Anne-Marie Devine.

Devine said this is the first time the university has used this approach, and will consider it again next year.