Officials in Olympic National Park are scrambling to find out if an encounter with an overly aggressive mountain goat is the cause of death for a 63-year-old man who died this past weekend while hiking in the park’s backcountry. Robert Boardman, a resident of Port Angeles, Washington, was hiking with his wife and a friend near the Klahhane Ridge area of the park.
Park staff responded quickly to reports of an injured hiker who had been gored in the leg, but on-site medical assistance, and even air evacuation to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles weren’t enough to save the man.
After the incident, rangers located the mountain goat in question and exterminated it. According to officials, this particular mountain goat had been exhibiting signs of aggression towards humans for some time but there was not enough of a case to warrant extermination. A veterinary pathologist will be examining the goat for a full analysis.
Rangers recommend hikers stay at least 100 feet away from wildlife, and if they do encounter a mountain goat to make lots of noise and throw rocks to scare away the animal. Unfortunately, those tactics were not enough in this case.
Read more about the incident on Treehugger.
-via National Parks Traveler.
[...] a hiker last year had a tragic encounter with a mountain goat in Olympic National Park, National Park officials are trying to prevent future incidents like that [...]