In order to keep the goats focused on the job at hand, they are confined in an area behind a portable electrified fence that was erected around the work site.
"We have it all - poison ivy, bittersweet, honeysuckle and kudzu - and they like it all. We don't know what we'll find once they're finished," Morrison said.
Even though the timetable calls for the goats to be finished with their work by week's end, they have at times seemed to be observing a work slowdown.
"They're very popular with the residents who have discovered them and have fun watching them. They in turn have fun watching the people," Morrison said, which results in less munching.
"Perhaps they'll work faster if there are fewer people observing them," he said.
Even though they may be goats, "they're big hams when around people," Knox said.
Knox said the goats, who weigh no more than 120 pounds, leave no disturbances - barely a footprint. They like dining on a variety of vegetation but will turn up their noses at toxic plants.
"There is a definite hierarchy of what they like and this is what they'll eat first. They're like kids; they eat the things they like first off their plates," Knox said.
Knox says the goats have a hearty appetite, and 100 goats can eat a half-acre of pesky undergrowth a day, or somewhere in the range of 20 pounds to 30 pounds per goat.
"Since we use no herbicides, it's a green alternative," Knox said.
Meanwhile, Betty deKeyser, a professional genealogist in Pasadena, is working with the group to identify the remains.
"Artifacts found at the grave such as pottery shards and bits of glass have been identified by our archaeologist as dating from 1770 to 1820, so we have a definite time period to date the grave," deKeyser said.
She said it might be John Gibson, for whom the island was named in 1819, or it could be William Worthington, who owned the island in the 18th century and died in 1770.
"Right now, it's a mystery grave," she said. "Our hope is that after the goats have finished their work, we'll be able to locate any other graves that might be there."
