Park officials: Go ahead and hit goats with rocks
Sep 28, 2012, 5:22 AM | Updated: 8:43 am
The popular Mount Ellinor Trail in the Olympic National Forest has been closed for three months because the Mountain Goats in the area had become too familiar with humans. (MyNorthwest.com/file)
(MyNorthwest.com/file)
Normally you aren’t supposed to mess with any animals you come across in the wild. You certainly aren’t supposed to harass them or throw things at them.
But now wildlife experts are encouraging visitors at one park to do all they can to discourage a group of animals from approaching the trail.
The popular Mount Ellinor Trail in the Olympic National Forest has been closed for three months because the Mountain Goats in the area had become too familiar with humans. Hikers were feeding them and letting them lick their packs and hands.
The Mountain Goats had lost all fear of humans, and they were getting aggressive. During the closure, Donna Nemeth with the Olympic National Forest said, wildlife experts were reminding those goats why they should fear us.
“Yelling at the animals,” she said. “Throwing rocks at them, sounding loud horns and hitting them with paint balls.”
The attempts to scare the goats off the trail appear to be working.
“They have actually moved away from the area that they had been frequenting which is near the trail head and the trail corridor itself,” Nemeth said. “The district ranger made a decision that it’s safe to allow people back into the area.”
So when the trail re-opens on Monday, hikers are being asked to reinforce that fear if they come across any Mountain Goats.
“If a goat approaches you, do everything you can to chase it away.” Nemeth said. “You can wave your clothing in the air, shout at it, throw rocks at it. If the goat continues to approach you, then you need to be more assertive in your actions to chase it away.”
You read that correctly. You are being encouraged to throw rocks at the animals to reinforce their fear of humans.
“Throw a rock to chase it away,” Nemeth said. “If it continues coming at you, throw a rock in order to hit it.”
Now you shouldn’t go out of your way to find a goat just to pelt it with a rock. It’s not open season. But it is mating season, so any male Mountain Goats you might come across will be a little more aggressive than normal.
As for relieving yourself along the trail, Nemeth says do it at least 50 yards off the path. It’s the salt and other minerals in our urine that actually attracted the animals to the trail in the first place.
