The white goat was spotted on Seward Harbor Saturday evening after apparently wandering down to the seaside town from the hillside.
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“Investigation revealed a large amount of people followed the goat towards the SeaLife Center on the rocks resulting in the goat jumping back in to the water”, Alaska Wildlife Troopers reported.
The trouble began about 6:30 p.m. Saturday when troopers received a report that people were harassing the goat on the south end of the Seward Harbor breakwater dike.
The mountain goat in Seward is just the latest casualty of snap-happy onlookers. This prompted the goat to enter the water, where eventually drowned, wildlife officials reported. The goat was now swimming in the ocean, in front of the SeaLife Center. The volume of people standing on the rocks appeared to prevent the goat from coming back on land, and the animal ultimately drowned in the ocean.
The goat’s remains were recovered by a good Samaritan from a boat and given to a charity, according to AST.
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“To the tourists credit, one level-headed young couple tried for over an hour to urge people away from the distressed goat”, wrote another witness, Erin Kuester. The animals are more acclimated to steeper, less populated areas. Alaska State Troopers are warning people to give wild animals space.
