Goats, just like humans, can get their own types of cravings. For the mountain goats at Olympic National Park, they have grown to have a strong appetite for human pee. And researchers have no idea how to stop it.
The park located in Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula is faced with an insurmountable challenge: removing hundreds of mountain goats that have developed a taste for human pee. Let’s just say, the animals are currently winning this battle.
Officials with the park are trying to figure out what to do with a large mountain goat population that’s not a native species in the park that has acquired a taste for human urine. Yes, over 700 mountain goats have somehow managed to get ahold of human urine left behind by hikers and now actually quite enjoy the drink.
Although urine adds necessary salt and other minerals to the goats’ diet, the urine has an adverse effect on the goat’s behavior. “Mountain goats can be a nuisance along trails and around wilderness campsites where they persistently seek salt and minerals from human urine, packs, and sweat on clothing. They often paw and dig areas on the ground where hikers have urinated or disposed of cooking wastewater,” the National Park Services said.
So far, the National Park Services and the USDA Forest Service have started tagging, blindfolding and airlifting the goats to the nearby forests in the North Cascades via helicopter. There, the goats can roam free without the scent of urine they could start craving.
Apparently, park authorities can’t implement fertility control because the animals are so hard to corral and there’s also no approved contraceptive available to quell their birthrates.
Source: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a23511011/olympic-national-park-goats-urine/