Mountain goat relocation resumes in Olympic National Park

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK, Wash. (AP) - For the second straight summer, mountain goats are flying in Olympic National Park.

Officials this week began rounding up the sure-footed but nonnative mammals from remote parts of the park to relocate them to the Cascade Mountains, where they do belong.

Specialists will sedate the animals, blindfold them and fly them - on slings dangling from a helicopter - to a staging area where they're looked over by veterinarians before being trucked to the Cascades.

Last year, 115 of the 725 mountain goats in the Olympics were moved to the Cascades. Officials captured 17 Monday and Tuesday.

The Olympics have few natural salt licks. That makes it more likely goats there will be attracted to the sweat and urine of hikers, potentially endangering the hikers.