Robert Boardman, a 63-year-old outdoorsman, was fatally attacked in Olympic National Park by a mountain goat, which was known to be aggressive.
I first heard of this tragedy from The Outdoor Pressroom. Thinking how odd it sounded, I googled “goat attack statistics.”
While I didn’t find many statistics to report, it turns out that someone has devoted a Web site, and apparently some time, to goat attacks and the trauma suffered from them.
If this rare, and possibly provoked (more on this later), attack scares you, here are some tips to preventing such an attack. List from goat-trauma.org:
-Never, under any circumstances, turn your back on a goat. This is Rule Number One of Goat Trauma Avoidance.
-Avoid petting zoos. The majority of goat traumas occurring each year take place at petting zoos.
-Stay alert. Goats are deceitful and can hide just about anywhere.
-Stay in civilized areas. While there have been reports of roaming urban goats, most attacks by loose goats take place in less populated areas.
-Be suspicious of all farm animals. While other animals such as sheep, cows and horses are not by any means the violent creatures that goats are, goats frequently lurk within a herd, waiting to take advantage of peoples' trust in such animals. There have been some reports of goats avoiding the presence of certain breeds of dogs, but the Foundation has yet to test this theory.
-If you must be in an area where goats are present, stay away from the younger goats. Older goats can be slower, allowing you more time to escape.
-Wearing earth tones in goat-infested areas may offer some protection from goat attack, due their camoflaging abilities.
-Goats have learned to climb trees and drop down onto unsuspecting people. Please see the evidence. Be especially aware in any treed, goat-infested areas.
The site also has some interesting statistics. Two of which are: “When given a choice four out five goats will attack a child before attacking either another goat or an adult.” In addition, “these same goats will choose to assault an adult over another goat more than three times out of five.”
I’m pretty sure that the site’s a big hoax. Or, there are some real goat haters out there. Well, I guess that’s possible since park rangers had been “hazing” this particular goat before it killed Mr. Boardman.
Hazing, in this case, means shooting the animal with beanbags and stoning it.
This hazing was intended to teach the goat to be frightened of humans and avoid them.
Pearl Jam should rewrite Jeremy, including this goat to teach people the possible backlash of bullying animals as well.
That or, since this goat was already aggressive, he wasn’t scared off by the beanbags and rocks.
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| Photo from NPS.gov |
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