[Bernardo]

I was thinking a few blocks of salt along the I-90 corridor and other areas in the cascades would lesson people goat interactions.

[treeswarper]

A slingshot and a few of these Slingshottable Salt That way you get a random placement of salt instead of one of the cow sized blocks that are heavy and plopped down where handy. When I was preschool aged, the grocery stores in E. Wenatchee would have salt blocks stacked in an aisle. I do not know why. Being a disgusting little munchkin, I would lick them a few times. Yuck.

[Randito]

I read up more on the people/goat problems in ONP. Seems the Olympics lack natural salt deposits , whereas the Cascades do have natural salt deposits that the goats can utilize. So the drive by goats in ONP to "stalk" people for their urine is a bit more intense.

[contour5]

Well, I guess I got my hopes up, when the little man in the KIRO video said it was all about the salt. [deleted unhinged rant about television] I still don't quite get the thing about the vegetation. Do the goats dine exclusively on endemic endangered species? Don't the deer have a similar, if not identical impact on the botanicals? Will we subject the entire ungulate population to extraordinary rendition? Then what about the cougars? With no more ungulates to prey upon, who becomes the likely target? [insert Far Side cartoon] The more we interfere- the more problems we create. We could have solved this with a few blocks of salt.

[Ski]

No, the goats do not dine exclusively on endemic species of flora. There are, however, a few plants which are exclusive to the upper alpine areas of the Olympics. The Park is charged, by Congressional mandate, to "preserve and protect" those unique native species of both flora and fauna, and leaving the goats to their own devices does not allow them the ability to achieve that management objective. Blacktail deer don't generally forage at those high altitudes, and have different browsing habits than goats. They also do not have the propensity for ripping up the ground with their hooves. As I noted above, there have been people urging the removal of the goats for over 50 years. This is not a new issue. The Park has dragged its heels on addressing the issue because they don't want to offend the animal rights whackos. Further complicating the issue were those delusional individuals who insisted (based on erroneous anecdotal "evidence") that the goats were native to the Olympic Peninsula. There was an extensive study done which provided irrefutable evidence that the goats are not, and never were, indigenous to the Olympic Peninsula. They were dropped in there by a group of hunters/sportsmen (about 1929, as I recall.) (I haven't read the documents for several years so my date may be off a year or two there.) The death of Mr. Boardman brought the issue to the forefront and probably provided some more impetus for the Park to do something about the issue. As to the cougars: they will find plenty to eat. The Olympics host huge populations of snowshoe hares and Roosevelt elk. The cougar will manage just fine without the goats. As for the goats in the Cascades, that's a different matter. I'm sure they'll manage just fine, and those weird little sedge grasses the goats were trampling in the Olympics don't grow anywhere near Rattlesnake Ledge.

[RodF]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Oh the irony. Maybe many of our forebears arrived in Washington prior to 1929, but if you want to be a stickler about non native species, most of us are going to have to leave.

[Randito]

[Token Civilian]

In any event, the relocated goats are now subject to hunting. They'll develop the appropriate level of wariness around humans at the appropriate times of the year...or end up filling a hunter tag. This is no different that Cali NP Bears vs bears everywhere else - Yogi is fearless in the Yosemite for example....and very wary up on Glacier Peak. As for ONP, the law banning hunting, and the Congress critters.....this is one of those head shaking moments for me. I would HOPE that the Demmican's and Republicats could get together on this one and agree that: 1) Goats in ONP are not a good thing. 2) Goats must be removed from ONP. 3) With massive budget deficits for the last 2 decades under both Republicat and Demmican administrations and Congresses, finding the lowest cost way to implement (2) consistent with the spirit of the Wilderness Act (minimizing chopper flights) and principals of managing National Parks should be a high priority. 4) Agree to pass legislation to the effect of, and get the President to sign, a time and condition limited exemption to the ban on hunting in ONP (e.g authorize hunting for up to some number of years, for goats only, or until said goats are eradicated to a level as specified in the management plan). 5) Collect some fat fees for the supplemental ONP hunting permit to offset administrative costs, from the hunters lucky enough to draw a tag issued by WDFW. (Posted in the hunting regs, that if a tag for ONP Goat is drawn, hunters must then also buy an ONP issued supplemental license to hunt in the park). Park and WDFW jointly develop park specific regulations to both insure successful removal of goats while minimizing impact on park visitors. 6) Let citizen hunters solve the problem for us. But I suppose that is too much to ask. So, instead, we get the high cost, highly intrusive fix that we saw. Congratulations. We have received exactly what we deserved on this one.

[Ski]

[Malachai Constant]

The relocation part is what seems to be absurd to me. Wildlife populations tend to rise to a sustainable level limited by predication. The relocated goats will likely starve or be eaten in their new locations at great expense and effort.

[Ski]

This is just my lousy opinion, but I believe it was all about optics. The simple, most cost-effective, and most expedient method would have been so simply send in some sharpshooters with high-powered rifles and take them out. No doubt our local military base, JBLM, could have easily provided willing and competent talent to achieve the objective in short order. But Mountain Goats, like California Sea Lions and Gray Wolves, are fuzzy photogenic creatures that bring out the worst among the "animal rights" zealots. It's okay to wantonly slaughter the bison who wander beyond the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park, but not the non-native Mountain Goats residing within Olympic National Park.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[Token Civilian]

[Ski]

This is getting way off topic, but there has never been a documented case of wild bison transmitting brucellosis to domestic cattle. None. Zip. Nada. It's a myth perpetuated by the cattle ranching industry.