$10M Federal Wrongful Death Claim Over Hiker Gored By Mountain Goat in National Park

The survivors and estate of a hiker who bled to death soon after being gored by a monster 370-pound mountain goat in Olympic National Park last year are pursuing a $10 million wrongful death claim in federal court in Tacoma, Wash.  They say park rangers should have acted more swiftly and decisively to protect the public after reports that at least one goat was behaving aggressively, according to a two-part series in the Peninsula Daily News. As the first and second articles detail, Bob Boardman, 63, was attacked by the goat Oct. 16 as he was hiking with his wife and another friend. He reportedly died within minutes after the goat severed an artery. His wife, Susan Chadd of Port Angeles, contends the park acted irresponsibly by suggesting hikers could ward off an aggressive mountain goat by throwing rocks at it. "I feel like they weren't protecting people and the ecosystem, and I feel that on the day of the accident, they responded very poorly to our calls for help,” she told the newspaper. Park officials declined to comment substantively on the claim...more