For three summers, wildlife managers wrestled mountain goats in Washington state’s Olympic National Park, blindfolded them, and then flew them to the far reaches of the state’s Cascade Range — an ambitious project to boost the goat population in an area where they were once common. occurred.
The researchers released a total of 325 goats into the Cascades between 2018 and 2020.
Today, most of the goats scientists have tracked are dead.
“We were disappointed that the survival rates were as low as we found,” said Rich Harris, a now-retired state biologist who led the translocation project.
It’s difficult to know exactly how many mountain goats survived because not all were tracked. But in a study published in September, Harris found that the probability that a translocated goat would live from year to year was only 56%. In a sample of 217 translocated goats, 165 had died by the end of 2022.
The Everett Herald reported that wildlife biologists working with tribes were able to find only a few living mountain goats from the groups they tracked.
The goal of the effort was to promote a revival of mountain goats in the Cascades, where the species’ numbers have dropped dramatically after decades of overhunting. At the same time, the project would eradicate mountain goats in the Olympic Mountains, where they were not native, and, according to some officials, would damage plants specific to the region. In 2010, a hiker was stabbed and killed in a rare attack; the mountain goat was too familiar with the presence of people.
But the outcome of the project has shown the extent to which climate change is rapidly transforming the West’s rugged mountain landscapes – and how humanity’s best-laid plans for wildlife are increasingly being tested as extreme weather events become more likely.
Researchers knew the relocated mountain goats would have a tough first winter and expected some to die. They now suspect that the effects of climate change have taken a toll on the survival of mountain goats – and native goats are also struggling.
From the start, the translocated goats had a hard time.
“You pick them up and drop them in unknown territory, there is an initial trauma to the move. And finding your way in unfamiliar territory will be a challenge,” said David Wallin, professor of environmental sciences at Western Washington University.
But that wouldn’t fully explain the poor results. So Harris conducted an analysis that included native mountain goats in the Cascades for comparison. The findings showed that their population is also declining.
“Although the translocated animals did not do as well, they did not do differently than the native animals,” Harris said, adding: “There has been a dramatic decline. Weather factors related to climate have an effect.”
His research found that changing weather conditions linked to climate change are correlated with the survival rates of mountain goats over the past two decades. The goats benefit from a cool spring with steady snowmelt, keeping the alpine meadows rich in food all summer long. But in recent years they have experienced deep snowfalls, rapid melt in the spring and dry droughts in the summer.
“The take-home message is: wow – I’m not sure how goats are going to fare in the next 10, two or three years,” Wallin said.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife monitors some of the state’s mountain goat populations, and estimates of the number of regularly surveyed goats have fallen from 1,537 in 2015 to 917 in 2022. The state estimates that there are fewer than 3,000 mountain goats in Washington are.
State, federal and tribal biologists spent years formulating their plan to move the goats, convince the public and ultimately carry out the complicated logistics.
The plan called for capturing and relocating at least half of the Olympics goat population to the Cascades, then killing the goats they couldn’t move.
For three summers, helicopters flew over the snow-capped peaks of Olympic National Park. Workers shot the goats with nets or darts that trapped the legs, then held them together, blindfolded them, gave them a sedative, placed them in harnesses and flew them away.
The goats received veterinary care and were transported by refrigerated truck and ferry across Puget Sound to be released in the Cascades.
Ultimately, veterinarians euthanized six goats, 23 died during capture and three died during transport. Sixteen children were taken to zoos, according to Patti Happe, a now-retired wildlife biologist from Olympic National Park.
Most of the remaining goats in Olympic National Park were killed, according to the plan: about 175. The effort ended in 2022 and Happe said visitors reported only two credible reports of mountain goats last year.
Most of the animals were 3 to 7 years old when they were moved. Mountain goats can live into their early teens. Many were fitted with GPS collars designed to track their whereabouts.
Harris said he knew the goats would struggle during their first winter, but expected their survival rate to rise to near normal: about 80-90%. However, the newcomers never seemed to stabilize.
Alpine environments are changing rapidly as global warming pushes temperatures upward, Happe said. Charismatic species such as mountain goats – often photographed by hikers – are easily observable examples of trends that also threaten marmots, pikas and other mountain species.
“They’re a good symbol of what’s going on,” Happe said. “Climate change – it has messed us up a bit. I don’t think we thought it would affect us like this.”
However, the biologists behind the translocation project said they don’t consider it a failure or a wasted effort. Happe said wildlife managers have noticed some of the translocated females with children, indicating they may have reproduced and introduced new genes into the overall population.
It’s too early to know if the species will recover, so there is still hope for the goats.
“Despite some of our disappointments, I don’t think we ultimately did anything wrong,” Harris said. “It might have been a useful thing to do, but it won’t stop climate change.”
CORRECTION (May 21, 2024, 10:53 PM ET): An earlier version of this article provided incorrect estimates of Washington’s mountain goat population. The September survey examined the goat population regularly monitored in the state, not the state’s total population.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com