BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) – Several goats that have been helping with weed mitigation at a park in Boulder escaped from their pen Thursday, fleeing toward freedom before Boulder police and some nearby high schoolers came to herd them back.

The goats have been at Harlow Platts Park helping the city of Boulder take care of weeds, according to City of Boulder Parks and Recreation. The goats are usually penned in by an electric fence, but officials said someone tampered with it, and the goats got free.

An animal protection officer with the Boulder Police Department arrived to help gather the herd and steer them away from the South Boulder Recreation Center.

When the animal protection officer and a park ranger couldn’t wrangle the entire herd, a group of nearby Fairview High School students helped.

After the goats were back in the pen, the helpful herders realized three goats were missing, but those goats were found at nearby Southern Hills Middle School, where a teacher was keeping watch of them.