Mtn Goat Gores Man To Death In Olympic N.P.

Long held as the symbol of alpine survival the Mountain Goat is a creature of legend. Built for life in high alpine environments this creature is rarely mentioned in the same sentence as man killer, and although it is seen as a powerful creature. And I guess because it is seen as  it is merely a “goat” folks rarely pay mind to its size and obvious means of self defense. Take note of the insane horns that these creatures are armed with, over the average lifespan of 11 years a male goats horns can easily reach lengths of up to 10″.

Unfortunately word has gotten out about the unfortunate encounter between 63 year old hiker Robert Boardman, of Port Angeles and one of these magnificent creatures. The story thus far is a bit shady and I don’t fully believe the whole thing, but here is what I have heard. Apparently the mtn goat, a resident of Olympic National park, had become use to humans and was no longer lacking a proper fear of us, so it is reported that park rangers had been shooting it with bean bags and generally harassing it trying to get it to fear humans again. There is also a bit of a rumor that rangers had been encouraging visitors to equally harass this poor goat.

Now the mauling of Mr. Boardman is not seen as a response to some personal attack, in fact all accounts have it as Mr. Boardman was having nothing to do with harassing the animal. However, Mr. Boardman had made an attempt to scare the goat away from he and his wife as they hiked the popular SwitchBack Trail in Olympic National Park. Mr. Boardman tried to get the mtn goat to go about its way to which the mtn goat turned and gored him in the thigh and subsequently proceeded to stand over them man’s motionless body for more than an hour absolutely refusing to back down.

After removing Mr. Boardman from the trail, Park Rangers hunted down the mtn goat which was easily identified by the blood remaining on it, and killed it.

Whats more is that this particular goat was known to be aggressive so it begs the question, what should humans do when faced with an aggressive animal? I know that problem bears in my area are given the three strikes you’re out rule, and by out I mean dead. This applies to trash bears and not ones that are aggressive to humans, in fact if a bear attacks a human it is killed. So what do you think?

What ever your deep philosophical leaning are towards wild life please respect all wild animals by giving them wide berth and respect the fact they can and will kill you should they feel so inclined.