It isn't every day that you see a mountain goat out of its element. One day, a young, fluffy one made its way down through the snow to lower ground.
Although it made for an interesting sight, it wasn't one this Provo, UT, father and son ever wanted to see.
James Olsen and his son Bryan were in Provo Canyon when they saw countless people taking pictures of something. It turned out to be a young mountain goat who was very far away from home. He was struggling with his steps in the thick, dense snow that covered every inch surrounding him.
The duo pulled out a camera, but they realized something was wrong. The curious mountain goat clearly didn't belong there and he was moving far too close to a busy road. The last thing they wanted to see was the little guy getting caught up in the speedy traffic and getting hit. So they called up an animal hotline for advice on what to do.
"As soon as he turned his head away from my boy, I said, 'jump!' and he jumped and caught it," James explains in the video below, posted on January 31, 2017. They were told to catch the little guy if they were able to, which they successfully did.
Immediately, the father and son ran the mountain goat over to sit in the front seat of their truck to warm up after it had trudged through the snow for who knows how long.
Scott Root of the Utah Division of Wildlife Services says, "Public safety is our number one priority and who knows what would have happened if it would have walked out into the road, so our officer asked them to gather up the little goat."
"His head was down when we first got him in the truck, then after a few minutes, his head was up and he was being friendly with us," James says. "I think we saved its life."
He was then taken to a vet and given a GPS collar to ensure that if he gets too close to street level again, authorities will be able to take him back to his herd on the mountain for safe keeping.
In the end, James says he and Bryan were just "glad to help."
Please SHARE this amazing rescue if you would do the same for an innocent animal!
