SEASIDE PARK, N.J. (August 10, 2012)--Officials in the shore town of Seaside Park, N.J., are considering whether to use goats from Maryland to rid an environmentally sensitive area of poison ivy.

Seaside Park can't burn the toxic plant or use chemicals because the patch overlooks Barnegat Bay, so town officials are considering alternatives.

Officials think it would cost between $15,000 and $20,000 to put the goats to work on the problem.

Councilman Michael Tierney told the Asbury Park Press the cost includes two handlers who come from Maryland to watch over the herd of 15 to 18 goats.

Dawn Yurkiewicz of Stratford Farm in Whiteford, Md., told the newspaper it might take the herd as long as three weeks to eat all the poison ivy.

New Jersey environmental officials, however, are worried the goats might also eat rare plants along the bay.