US hiker killed in rare attack by mountain goat: officials

[Kadie]

US hiker killed in rare attack by mountain goat: officials

– 5 mins ago


SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – A hiker has died after reportedly being fatally attacked by a mountain goat while at a national park in the western US state of Washington, US park officials said on Sunday.

Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for Olympic National Park, told AFP that the victim Robert Boardman, 63, was hiking Saturday with his wife and a friend when he "apparently sustained fatal injuries after the encounter" with the ram.

She said details remain sketchy and an investigation is underway.
"We're not sure at this point what happened," she said. "We are aware that the hiking group did have some kind of an encounter with the mountain goat."

The spokeswoman said the goat was fatally shot by park rangers when they "observed blood on its horns" after the incident.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101017/ts_alt_afp/usincidentanimal_20101017200449

[cliffordu]

1. REGISTER ALL GOATS NOW!!!!

[HuckleB]

2. We'll have to get more details.

I hate it when such a report refers to the hiker as "experienced." "Experienced" based on what? Perhaps he was, but there is no way the reporter has enough information to know that. The injury was to the thigh, which makes one think death must have been caused by blood loss, or a blood clot, or...? I'm just speculating because I can. I have no idea, of course.

I do suspect that this was a very rare incident, however, I was taught from the word go as a kid to give a wide berth to mountain goats. If they want the trail, you get off the trail. Again, I have no idea what happened, but it's always been wise to give mountain goats and other wild animals their space.