Park rangers resort to rocks, paintballs to scare goats
Aug 29, 2012, 12:16 PM | Updated: 1:56 pm
Olympic National Park rangers and biologists are working to get wild mountain goats and humans to share the park by scaring one and educating the other. (Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife)
(Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife)
Olympic National Park rangers and biologists are working to get wild mountain goats and humans to share the park by scaring one and educating the other.
District Ranger Dean Yoshina says Mount Ellinor Trail remains closed after a number of incidents in the park, including the 2010 death of a hiker who was gored by a goat.
In July, four different groups reported encountered run-ins with aggressive goats. Since then the parks department has been regularly monitoring the goats and reports up to twenty goats have been observed in the area, including seven kids.
It appears the goats are attracted to food brought into the park and the salt on human skin and backpacks.
“We’re trying to get them to have some fear of humans. We’re throwing rocks, we’re using paintballs,” said Yoshina.
For the humans, they’re developing teaching tools to warn against feeding the goats and how to interact with them without triggering aggressive responses.
The goal is to open Mount Ellinor Trail as soon as possible, but safety is the priority. Yoshina added that we’re approaching breeding season in October, a time when goats can become even more aggressive.
97.3 KIRO FM’s Dan Restione contributed to this report.
