Ten years ago, the National Park Service decided that the snowy-white mountain goats in Olympic National Park were "non-native" and should therefore be eradicated. The Fund has fought for a decade to challenge the Park Service's so-called scientific information and to spare the goats from execution.
At every turn, we proved that the goats were not harming park plants, and that they were not introduced to the peninsula. We pointed out that there was not a single endangered plant species living in the park. And we uncovered a National Geographic article from the 1800s that reported on mountain goats in the Olympic peninsula -- long before the Park Service says they were introduced by settlers in the 1920s. But the Park Service still did not want to give in.
Fortunately for the goats, a new and powerful advocate emerged. After Congressman Norm Dicks, who represents the Olympic area in Washington, read all of The Fund's scientific information on the mountain goats, he got involved and threatened to cut Park Service funding unless they cut the goat killing plan permanently.
In what we had hoped was the final chapter of this story, the Park Service was stuck in stalemate with Congressman Dicks and his Washington allies. But in a new twist, the Park Service now wants to conduct another two-year study with taxpayer dollars to determine if the goats should be killed. The Park Service needs to learn that this issue has already been studied to death over the last decade, and all of the scientific evidence points to the fact that the goats should stay.
Please write to Congressman Dicks and thank him for sticking up for the Olympic mountain goats:
The Honorable Norm Dicks
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Also write to the Park Service and tell them not to waste taxpayers' money on an unnecessary study, but instead to call off their goat killing plans permanently:
Mr. Roger Kennedy, Director
National Park Service
P.O. Box 37127
Washington, D.C. 20013-7127
E-Mail: roger_kennedy@nps.gov
Thank you for your concern and for acting to help save Olympic's mountain goats. If you have any questions or would like more information please contact:
Cathy Sue and Roger Anunsen
The Fund for Animals
4985 Battle Creek Road S.E. #103
Salem, OR 97302
Phone: (503) 588-1175
E-Mail: frogfarm@aol.com