Well, we tried really hard back in the 1980's to support the Park
biologists in their efforts to remove the introduced, non-native Mt.
Goats from ONP, because they were (and continue) to trash the native
plant communities in the alpine & subalpine, communities with many
endemic species, none of them adapted to the presence of such
aggressive alpine herbivores. Just when we thought the plan was going
to be adopted, the irrational fringe of the so-called animal-rights
movement (bizarrely supported by Seattle Times columnist, Rod Judd),
created a huge stink that caused the ONP to eventually drop its plans
to remove (by transplantation and, as a final measure, shooting) the
goats from the park. So now the goats are as numerous as ever. If the
goat elimination program had been allowed to run its course, the man
that was killed would still be alive. Moral of the story: cute, warm,
fuzzy, non-native mammals are more important than an entire ecosystem
of naturally-evolved but non-furry organisms. At least we were
successful at getting the feral goats exterminated from San Clemente
Island in California, saving a number of native plants and birds from
almost certain extinction. Since the goats were finally finished off,
the island's natural communities have responded amazingly well. Same
story is now unfolding on Isla Guadalupe in Mexico.

Mark


>
>
> From: vogelfreund at comcast.net
> Date: October 17, 2010 1:10:22 PM PDT
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: [Tweeters] Mt. Goats in ONP
>
>
> I thought the Mountain Goats were being or had been eliminated from
> the Olympic National Park, since they are alien to that ecosystem.
> Whatever happened to that program?
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11562054
>
> Phil Hotlen
> Bellingham, WA
>
>

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