Thats Insane

Mountain Goat capture and translocation operations from September 2018 to August 2020 moved a total of 325 mountain goats from Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest to the northern Cascade Mountains. This effort is a partnership between the National Park Service (NPS), the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW), and the USDA Forest Service (USFS) to re-establish and assist in connecting depleted populations of mountain goats in the Washington Cascades while also removing non-native goats from the Olympic Mountains. Mountain goats were introduced to the Olympics in the 1920s. Leading Edge Aviation, a private company which specializes in the capture of wild animals, conducted the aerial capture operations. The helicopter crew used immobilizing darts and net guns to capture mountain goats and transported them in specially made slings to the staging areas. The mountain goats were then examined and treated by veterinarians before WDFW volunteers and staff transported them to pre-selected