In Paris suburb, sheep are looking after green spaces

By Lise Kiennemann

CLAMART, France, Oct 23 (Sciences Po) - They somewhat look out of place. In the upscale suburb of Clamart, less than 10 kilometers southeast of Paris, sheep are grazing peacefully on a grassy slope, enjoying a view of the Eiffel Tower and Paris’ La Défense business district.

And they are not just here for decoration. For five years, they have been in charge of maintaining seven green spaces in this residential town - including schools, parks, and a cemetery -, adding bleating to the urban soundscape.

Twice a week, Marie Bréon, the shepherd, comes to look after them, change their water, and bring them to new pens.

“Sheep are amazing mowers while being eco-friendly and creating social ties,” she said.

Over the past years, urban grazing has become increasingly popular in France. According to a survey conducted by the association Entretien Nature et Territoires, there were over 180 eco-grazing programs in 2016, compared with 20 in 2000. And since a law forbade local authorities to use herbicides in public spaces in 2017, the superpowers of sheep have gained even more attention.

French cities are not the only ones that have opted for that alternative. Over the past years, Berlin, Montreal and Brussels have all welcomed sheep in their parks.

Sheep advocates highlight that they produce less CO2 and less noise pollution than traditional lawnmowers, while fertilizing the soil and increasing biodiversity thanks to their droppings.

Sheep also have the advantage of being able to maintain areas that are difficult to access, like sloping grounds or terrains with many trees and shrubs.

“Our sheep are given to us by shepherds, breeders or companies who have too many of them or want to get rid of the old ones. So we have lots of different breeds, and we choose where they graze according to their characteristics and their personality,” Bréon said.

Bréon also has six goats “that are perfect for taking care of grounds with brambles or thistles.”

For Bréon however, the mission of her sheep is well broader than mowing grass. “Sheep are also a way to create social ties among inhabitants and to reconnect city-dwellers with nature,” she said.

She said that sheep can even have therapeutic effects. For four years, some of her sheep took up residence in the garden of a home for disabled adults in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. Six months ago, three sheep have also been installed in one of Clamart’s nursing homes.

People on site can attest to these positive impacts. "Some of our residents have totally changed their behavior since the sheep arrived. People who used to stay locked up in their rooms are coming out, others who used to be mute are starting to make sounds again," said Antoinette Baudry, who organizes activities in the Clamart Sainte-Emilie nursing home.

“Sheep offers a way out of the disease,” Sainte-Emilie nursing home psychologist Anna Larsson added.

While sheep have now been fully accepted by Clamart inhabitants, they did not meet with immediate approval.

"When I first proposed bringing sheep to the playground of one of our schools, I met with a lot of hostility. People were afraid of noise pollution and were wondering what good it would do," François Le Got, deputy mayor in charge of sustainable development, said. "When I went back a month later, the director asked me if I could put in more," he added.

When asked about the cost-effectiveness of urban grazing, Le Got said it is "difficult to assess". While the town hall makes savings in terms of machinery and gas, it grants Bréon’s association an annual subsidy of 20,000 euros and provides it with premises free of charge.

But for Le Got, the key benefit lies elsewhere. "What I see is that we have sheep across the town and calming it down and that we have children who can be in contact with nature and who are thrilled to see animals. And that is priceless," he said. ‘This project is not financial but political and educational,” he added.

For her part, Bréon says she is able to make a "decent" living out of her activity, thanks to the subsidies from Clamart town council, eco-grazing contracts from neighboring towns and the various activities she organizes for children. In addition to her own, she can pay two other salaries, those of an activity leader and a caretaker.

Bréon is delighted to see that more and more cities are switching to living lawnmowers. Bringing nature back into the city was already the goal of her mother, Claudine Bréon, who had set up, in the 1990s, a vegetable garden in the Parisian Tuileries Garden and a farm in the suburb of Saint-Cloud.

However, Marie Bréon is also lucid about the downsides of this phenomenon.

"For some companies, urban grazing is becoming a business in its own right. They get contracts, rent sheep to breeders, take them to grounds, and visit them only once a month," she said. She also regrets that many entrepreneurs have no training in animal husbandry.

For her, animal welfare must be at the heart of the practice. "It wouldn't make sense to put sheep next to Paris ring road where it is noisy and polluted for instance,” she said.

She also wants to go further and use her sheep to promote local production. She is already producing soaps out of her sheep’s milk. As for their wool, it will soon be used by a Clamart workshop to produce 100% "made in Clamart" sweaters.