Family sues Park Service over Aggressive Goat

http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=24215

The Park rangers knew a goat was aggressive. It killed a hiker. Relatives are suing.

Touches upon the fascinating discussion that has been going on at the "3 Hikers Die" thread. Didn't know if I should post it there or separately.

Brian

$10 million?! Ambulance chasing at its worst. Ugh.

Also, there's a whole series of "When animals attack" TV shows for a reason - they can be aggressive. It's a shame a hiker (and a goat) was killed, but rather than rehash the debate on personal responsibility in the wilderness I'll also defer to the other thread.

Roots, rocks, and scree are also very dangerous on trails. The next time I trip and fall I am going to sue. "Back injury!"

The park service needs to start cleaning up it's act ASAP!

My outing to ANP is coming up. Bet I can find an easy way to get rich quick there.

If you can win an enormous law suit because you spill hot coffee all over yourself at McDonald's, I bet you could win a law suit because I wild goat killed you in a wild national park!!!

The goat surely received his death sentence for being wild.

Wild animals in wild places, what is this world coming to???

The bigger question I have though is "what are we coming to?"

Maddy said:

If you can win an enormous law suit because you spill hot coffee all over yourself at McDonald's, I bet you could win a law suit because I wild goat killed you in a wild national park!!!

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Without getting into the aforementioned lawsuit re: an Olympic goat goring Robert Boardman to death, it's worth knowing that the McDonald's coffee case was not frivolous--the woman (Stella Liebeck) received third-degree burns on 6% of her body, including her genitals; McDonald's mandated it's coffee to be served at a temperature that burns flesh; and McDonald's had already been sued some 700 times for coffee burns before Ms. Liebeck suffered hers. For more information see: http://www.caoc.com/CA/index.cfm?event=showPage&pg=facts.

Maddy said:

The goat surely received his death sentence for being wild.

Wild animals in wild places, what is this world coming to???

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Getting into the aforementioned lawsuit re: an Olympic goat goring Robert Boardman to death, it's worth knowing that mountain goats are not native to the Olympic Peninsula. That being said, most of us probably agree that when we seek to enjoy wilder places we (ought to) accept a certain degree of risk, albeit probably far lower than walking across streets in most American cities and towns. On the other hand, the NPS, FS, NY DEC, etc., have established patterns of removing so-called problem animals. If, as the suit seems to allege, the NPS considered the goring goat to be a problem animal and did not act on their knowledge, then perhaps the lawsuit bears some merit. In any event one would like to know all the facts of the case, and perhaps it could raise some interesting questions. In any event, it may be worth more thought than the Cheryl Weingarten suit.

B the Hiker said:

The Park rangers knew a goat was aggressive. It killed a hiker. Relatives are suing.
Brian

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Olympic National Park rangers have killed a goat that had become habituated and aggressive. It appears they are now being pro-active in protection of the park's visitors.

The park updated it's “Mountain Goat Action Plan” this June based upon feedback from Wildlife experts regarding goat behavior. The document provides a biological overview of goats, discusses their aggressive behavioral postures, and mentions their affinity for salt and mineral licks. Interesting read.

The goal of this management plan is that goats in the park exhibit natural behaviors consistent with other portions of their range, to not have those natural behaviors altered by human use of their habitats (i.e. become habituated or conditioned), and to minimize the potential for hazardous goat human encounters.
......
As with the other species management plans contained in this Hazard and Nuisance Animal Plan, mountain goat management in OLYM is an integrated effort between all park divisions, and the emphasis is on prevention. For roles of each division, see Section III.

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Did it take the lawsuit for them to "get it"?

Craig said:

Did it take the lawsuit for them to "get it"?

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Since the suit was announced (it hasn't been filed) 2 months after the action plan was revised, and government agencies being what they are we can assume the revision process took at least a year...I'm betting no.

Although it may have taken a serious accident/death to get that process started.