Mountain goat study halted by animal deaths
by JIM MANN, Daily Inter Lake, June 12, 2010 [here]
A mountain goat study in Glacier National Park has been suspended following the deaths of two goats after they were shot with tranquilizer darts.
The University of Montana study, aimed at exploring the effects of climate change on mountain goats, got under way this month with preliminary field work in the Many Glacier Valley.
A 6-year-old male mountain goat died Tuesday after it was darted in the Ptarmigan Lake Trail area near Mount Altyn by Dr. Robert Moore, a Wildlife Conservation Society veterinarian.
Moore administered a tranquilizer antidote and provided support breathing for about 45 minutes, according to Dr. Joel Berger, a professor of wildlife conservation at the UM Division of Biological Sciences.
The cause of death later was determined to be respiratory arrest because the tranquilizer dart punctured the goat’s ribcage.
After meeting with park managers on Wednesday, researchers were allowed to resume their field work.
However, a second male goat died after it was darted on Thursday. Its cause of death has not yet been determined.
The researchers were instructed to “stand down” until further notice while the National Park Service conducts a review.
“We are devastated at the loss of these animals,” Berger stated.
The field study was being led by doctoral candidate Stefan Ekemas under Berger’s supervision. Researchers planned to dart 30 mountain goats over the next two summers with a goal of fitting them with radio collars and subcutaneous temperature monitors.
Captures were to be conducted by a veterinarian with care taken to minimize the risk of harm to the animals in the vicinity of cliffs, open water and rough terrain.
Scientists already have learned that changing climate is likely to squeeze habitat available to wildlife such as mountain goats due to changing vegetation in high-elevation terrain. … [more]
Note: scientists have “learned” no such thing. Temperatures have been declining at GNP for ten years, nearly a full degree F during the last decade, year-round. Collaring goats will not advance knowledge. The killing of the subject goats is a good example of how wildlife “science” is mired in confusion and incompetence.