EVERETT — People marveled at a pastoral scene in the most unlikely of places: a Fred Meyer parking lot.
A herd of 120 goats had finished chewing through chest-high grass around a detention pond and was getting started on some cattails. In an area tagged with gang graffiti and frequented by drug addicts, families weren’t averting their gaze. They were enthralled.
“This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in my entire life,” said Cheryl Ryan, of Everett, who hoped to bring by her 13-year-old son when he returns from camp.
The herd belongs to Tammy Dunakin, a self-described “goat wrangler.” She owns Rent-a-Ruminant, based at her Vashon Island Farm. She leads a nomadic existence much of the year, camped out with two dogs while her goats graze through business landscaping or roadsides.
On Thursday, the hoofed animals were halfway through a six-day job at the Fred Meyer on Evergreen Way, near Casino Road.
Dunakin said her goats are ideal for the uneven ground with plenty of hazards. They don’t eat hypodermic needles or drug paraphernalia and don’t catch human diseases.
“They don’t eat tin cans — that’s a myth,” she said. “They like paper.”
Dunakin grew up on a farm on Whiskey Ridge Road near Marysville.
Her dad raised cattle. She was into horses. There was plenty of poultry, but only one goat.
“I was one of those crazy, nutty horse kids,” she said.
She graduated from Marysville Pilchuck High School, class of 1979, and went into a career as a paramedic.
She moved to Vashon 30-some years ago, where she started keeping goats.
One day, after returning from work at Harborview Medical Center, she stopped to contemplate them.
“You guys look bored,” she thought. “You need a job.”
That was a joke, but she needed change. Working with burn victims in intensive care had taken a toll.
“I’d seen too many things I couldn’t unsee,” she said.
She’s been renting goats for 13 years now.
Dunakin keeps busy throughout the Puget Sound area. Customers include the Boeing Co. and the Seattle Department of Transportation. She’s scheduled to work next week at the Lynnwood Transit Center.
She’s even started franchises. There are two so far, in Texas and in Tennessee.
Her goats are rescues, mostly. They include several breeds: Nubian, Boer, and Alpine, Kinder, Pygmy and Nigerian Dwarf.
“My goats are never slaughtered,” she said. “They get to live out their days doing this.”
Everett is their second Fred Meyer store. They did their first one last week in Covington. More are likely.
“It’s amazing. It’s refreshing. Fred Meyer loves it,” said John Ashmore, regional store services coordinator.
The goats, in this case, cost much less than hiring people with equipment, Ashmore said. The environmentally conscious approach dovetails with Fred Meyer’s effort to eliminate waste inside stores.
In an age when high-tech seems to dominate everything, Dunakin is happy to find success in the opposite direction.
“This is kind of a throwback that is super-effective,” she said.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.
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