Olympic National Park has released a mountain goat management plan:
The mountain goats at Olympic National Park in Washington have worn out their their welcome and park officials are moving ahead with plans to get rid of them. On Monday the National Park Service released a mountain goat management plan, laying out three methods of dealing with the population, which park officials say not only is damaging the environment but is dangerous to people.
One method is killing the animals with shotguns or high-powered rifles. The other is relocating them. And the last option is a combination of the two. That is the preferred plan but would likely take years, said Louise Johnson, the park's chief of resources management.
First helicopters would capture the goats in drop nets. Next a crew would tranquilize the animals, putting them in slings under the helicopter, which would carry them to a staging area. From there, they would be placed in trucks and driven hours to their natural habitat in the North Cascade Mountains. Some of the goats — roughly half — Johnson estimates, would have to be killed because crews wouldn't be able to access them in remote, rugged terrain.
There are an estimated 600 mountain goats in the park today and the population is growing by about 8 percent a year, Johnson said.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @04:54PM (1 child)
where are all the mountain lions? wolves? bears? why are these goats breeding out of control? you dumb fucks introduce a prey species without the predator? if you're going to meddle, then at least use some basic common sense and try to create a balanced ecosystem, ffs. stupid forest pigs want to ride around and shoot defenseless goats. maybe we shoot forest pigs while they are eating their bear claws instead?
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday July 26 2017, @06:44PM
where are all the mountain lions? wolves?
We can't have these things around! They might hurt someone's kid! We have to eliminate all large predators to make sure all wild lands are perfectly safe for children!
/s