OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Three days after the first deadly animal attack in Olympic National Park’s 72-year history, wildlife biologist Scott Gremel and backcountry ranger Lynn Malarkey kept a sharp eye on six mountain goats grazing on alpine grass just below the top of Klahhane Ridge.
Gremel and Malarkey are part of Olympic National Park’s stepped-up presence at Klahhane Ridge after a hiker was fatally gored there by a nearly 4-foot-tall, 300-pound mountain goat on Saturday.
“We watched the group,” said Gremel, referring to four adults and two youngsters that he shot with a paintball gun for identification.
“They were not at all aggressive.”
Robert Boardman, 63, of Port Angeles, a registered nurse, community musician and avid hiker, was gored in the thigh by the horns of the large male mountain goat and bled to death on Switchback Trail near Klahhane Ridge.
Other hikers said the mountain goat stood over Boardman as he lay motionless on the ground, bleeding, staring at people trying to help before finally moving away.
The big mountain goat had chased Boardman down a trail, and one of the witnesses, Margaret Bangs, said Boardman died as a hero, warning off other hikers as the animal closed in on him.
“He spent his last minutes putting himself between the goat and everyone else,” she said.
The mountain goat was well-known for its aggressive behavior, snorting and pawing the ground and sometimes blocking the trail and charging hikers.
Park officials acknowledge that the mountain goat that gored Boardman was among several goats which, over the past four years, have become increasingly aggressive.
Park rangers later found the goat, saw blood on it and shot the animal.
A necropsy was performed Sunday to see if the goat’s organs or tissue samples show any clue to the animal’s behavior.
Results are expected by next week.
Park rangers and wildlife biologists will maintain a presence on Switchback Trail and Klahhane Ridge every day until the first snows hit and close off the area to most hikers, Gremel said.
They are there to observe other mountain goats for signs of aggression and talk with visitors.
“We want to be sure that no other goat is behaving aggressively towards people,” Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin said in a news release.
“Saturday’s tragic event was extremely unusual and we are doing everything we can to learn as much as possible about it, and to make sure we’re doing everything we can to prevent something like this from happening again.”
Gustin noted that summer rangers had patrolled the Klahhane Ridge area four to five times each week, monitoring the goats’ behavior and talking with hikers.
Klahhane Ridge is about 17 miles south of Port Angeles, just east of Hurricane Ridge, and is a popular hiking destination.
“It is also home to approximately eight mountain goats, some of which are quite accustomed to seeing people,” the news release noted.
Malarkey, who has worked for the park for 14 years, said it is rare for a mountain goat to come anywhere near a human.
“They just try to ignore you,” Malarkey said.
Gremel, a 16-year park employee, called the incident a “terrible” but rare encounter.
“Everyone was really surprised,” he said.
“These goats have been around people a lot. They are acclimated to people.”
A few solo hikers strolled along Klahhane Ridge on Tuesday afternoon.
One said the mountain goat that attacked Boardman was well known.
“He was a regular up here,” said the Port Angeles man who declined to be identified.
“This was his territory. He was one of the biggest goats around.”
Tom Bihn of Port Angeles, another regular on the Switchback Trail and a friend of Boardman’s, said the large mountain goat that attacked Boardman was a “menace.”
“A lot of people encountered it, and we all pretty much agree on who the offender goat was,” Bihn said.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”
Occasionally, Bihn would encounter the buck and cut switchbacks — a practice he normally frowns upon — to avoid the animal.
“It became sort of a hassle to deal with that goat,” said Bihn, who described the mountain goat as more aggressive than its peers and very healthy.
Barb Maynes, park spokeswoman, said ONP has brought back a summer seasonal employee and added a biologist in response to the incident.
Gremel said the mountain goat that gored Boardman was larger than the others and “tended to be by himself.”
Despite the mountain goat’s reputation, Bihn doesn’t fault the park for not shooting it sooner.
“Hindsight is 20/20,” he said.
“They (ONP) say they didn’t have cause, and I tend to say they’re the expert in that.”
Part of the attraction of hiking is being surrounded by unpredictable wildlife, said Bihn, who owns a company that makes and sells laptop and travel bags.
“It’s part of why we love going into the wilderness,” he said.
Bihn, who has encountered cougars, said there was a “different feel” about the mountain goat that he believes gored his friend.
“Everything about it is so strange,” Bihn said.
“This is weird behavior for a goat. It’s a terrible thing.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
