2019 Olympic National Park Goat-Lift Underway: Photos

PORT ANGELES, WA — Another goat-lift is underway in Washington. This week, wildlife officials began airlifting mountain goats from the Olympic National Forest, an attempt to transplant the non-native population back to the Cascades.

This is the second goat-removal effort inside the Olympic National Park following one in 2018. About 17 goats had been lifted by Wednesday, although the effort will continue for about two weeks.

Mountain goats were introduced to the Olympics over 100 years ago by humans. They are very attracted to salt, and that has led to some dangerous human-goat encounters, including a fatal one in 2010.

Derrick Halsey, a wildlife capture specialist known as a "mugger," hands off a kid mountain goat to Olympic National Park Wildlife Branch Chief Patti Happe Tuesday, July 9, 2019, after airlifting the goat and two others to Hurricane Ridge in the park near Port Angeles, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

A billy mountain goat, blindfolded, hobbled and sedated, has a tracking collar put on him as his horns, covered by protective guards made of old hoses, are held to steady his head Tuesday, July 9, 2019, after being captured and airlifted to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park, near Port Angeles, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Olympic National Park Wildlife Branch Chief Patti Happe reaches toward a pair of mountain goats, including a billy, top, and a nanny, to settle them on the back of a truck after they were airlifted by helicopter Tuesday, July 9, 2019, to Hurricane Ridge in the park near Port Angeles, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

A pair of blindfolded and hobbled mountain goats, including a billy, right, and a nanny, are cradled by workers in the back of a truck after being airlifted by helicopter Tuesday, July 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

As others tend to two adult mountain goats on a flatbed truck in front of him, Derrick Halsey, a wildlife capture specialist known as a "mugger," carries a kid mountain goat from a helicopter Tuesday, July 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

A ranger walks past a row of specially made crates that will be used to transport mountain goats Tuesday, July 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)