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Sheep help Polish cities cut grass, noise and emissions

14.05.2026 16:00
With spring now in full bloom, flocks of sheep are once again being deployed across several cities in Poland to graze public green spaces, as part of a broader effort to reduce emissions, lower noise levels and manage public greenery in a more sustainable way.
Audio
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Pixabay LicenseImage by Dinh Khoi Nguyen from Pixabay

"For several years now, we have reduced mowing to three times a year for environmental reasons, while sheep provide a natural complement to these efforts,” Michał Mendala, a local official in the southern city of Katowice, told public broadcaster Polish Radio.

“Once grazing is completed in one location, the flock moves on to the next," he said. "Another clear benefit of this approach is the absence of the noise typically associated with lawn mowers."

Noisy petrol-powered lawnmowers are hardly welcome in the coal-mining Silesia region of which Katowice is the capital.

The province has the worst air pollution in Poland and Europe resulting in tens of thousands of premature deaths annually.

(mo/gs)

Click on the audio player above for a report by Michał Owczarek.