Help! Don't waste goat tags!

[BIGHORNtracks]

Utah has some goats where the national parks service does not want them.
In Dinosaur national monument.

Officials are trying to decide HOW to remove them. From the article "prompting officials to develop the "protocol for exotic Rocky Mountain goat restriction and removal." They are accepting public comment through March 9."

One option is to hire professionals to kill the goats, another is to allow hunters to draw a special tag and harvest them.

This will most likely not be a one time issue. Goats tend to wander and migrate.
The protocol that is established now, will probably be the protocol from removing goats from the park, in the future.

If tax payer dollars are used to hire professional hunters to kill the goats, we will lose opportunities for hunters to get back, what was put into the recourse by introducing the goats to the uinta mountains.

Public comment is open. Even you don't live in Utah, setting a precedent with the NPS is important for future issues in other states.

Please respond to the open comment period and let them know that if the goats must be removed, it should be done by hunters who draw tags. Not wasted by some hired extermination unit.

For the article.

http://www.sltrib.com/home/3514002-155/national-park-officials-plan-to-shoot?fullpage=1

 

[5MilesBack]

Utah proposed that licensed hunters be allowed to kill goats, but that would violate NPS regulations, which prohibit hunting in parks.

Perhaps it's way past time to change their regulations. Because I'm not sure how even a hired sniper is going to get the job done without doing some "hunting", which violates their own policy. Man, these people are stupid. Even a "capture and remove" program would require some hunting.

 

[beachbunny]

so what is the problem having some goats there?
or, how did they get there?

 

[mtnrunner260]

They think the goats will damage the alpine plants. The goat traveled about 50 miles to get there.

 

[Schism]

There is precedence with the Park Service for hunts, don't let them say it can't be done. Theodore Roosevelt National Park had a couple years of cow hunts to reduce the size of the elk herd. IIRC hunters need to pass a shooting proficiency test, basic physical conditioning test, and must be accompanied by a "guide" which were hired by NPS. The guides helped locate the elk and coordinate the harvest of cow elk only. There may still be some info floating around the web if one did some searching.

 

[JTHeaney]

Is there a link to the public comment or snail mail address? I clicked the "goat plan" links but it wasn't very helpful.

Thanks in advance if you have the info.

 

[Ono]

I think it would help your cause to use Olympic National Park as an example. NPS with WDFW opened up a conflict reduction goat hunt in the park to remove them. Non-native and enjoy tagging tourons. Granted it is only 6 tags over two units, better than nothing though.

 

[cowboy]

There is precedence with the Park Service for hunts, don't let them say it can't be done. Theodore Roosevelt National Park had a couple years of cow hunts to reduce the size of the elk herd. IIRC hunters need to pass a shooting proficiency test, basic physical conditioning test, and must be accompanied by a "guide" which were hired by NPS. The guides helped locate the elk and coordinate the harvest of cow elk only. There may still be some info floating around the web if one did some searching.

Been there - done that. It wasn't a hunt, it was a culling. Trust me, there is a method for a hunt in a National Park, they just don't want all the fuzzy hugger wailing and potential law suits.