Posted Friday, August 19, 2005

Mountain goat in garage surprises family

MIDWAY — A young Rocky Mountain goat choose an interesting place to stop as he journeyed from Mount Timpanogos to lower elevations recently.

He ended up in John and Carol Probst's garage in Midway.

Rocky Mountain goat in residential garage Photo by Scott Root

Carol returned home Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 16, to find her dogs excited about the furry, white visitor that was inside their garage and commandeering the top of their pickup truck. The Probst family quickly closed the garage and contacted the Division of Wildlife Resources.

DWR wildlife biologists arrived and got within a few feet of the one-year-old billy goat. Using a blow gun, they administered a tranquilizer dart. The goat quickly became wobbly, and wildlife biologist Craig Clyde gently pulled the goat down into the bed of the truck. After placing an ear tag on the goat and checking his heart rate and general health, a reversal drug was administered. The goat was quickly back on his feet inside a DWR horse trailer and on his way back to Mount Timpanogos.

"Though mountain goats migrate to lower elevations during the winter months, they are typically found at about 10,000 feet in elevation during the warmer months, along the tops of mountainous slopes," Clyde said. "Male goats tend to wander more than females, and this one may have been headed to a new mountain range. We have record of one goat traveling more than 100 miles from the Uintas to the south end of Utah County."

Utah has a growing Rocky Mountain goat population. Goats are found in various areas in the state, including Little Cottonwood Canyon, Mount Timpanogos and the Uinta Mountains in the northern part of the state, and the Tushar Mountain range east of Beaver in southwestern Utah.