Endangered Goat

[Anchor Lead]

A critically endangered mountain goat has been spotted at Juwangsan National Park. It's the first time that mountain have been discovered at Juwangsan Mountain since it was designated a national park in 1976.

[Pkg]

Unmanned motion detection cameras set up all over the Juwangsan National Park captured the images of goats twice, once in April and once in September. The two mountain goats recorded by cameras are estimated to weigh 25 kilograms and 35 kilograms. The weights are those of fully grown goats. The animals are apparently in good health, as they chew on leaves and run around the mountain. Given the amount of excrement found, the Korea National Park Service estimates there are at least three mountain goats living in Juwangsan Mountain.

[Soundbite] Kim Eui-gyeong(Korea Nat'l Park Service) : "We plan to find out through later DNA analyses whether the mountain goats discovered in the Juwangsan National Park were imported from outside or indigenous to the mountain."

There are about 1,000 mountain goats in Korea and half of them inhabit the mountains that run along the east coast of the nation. The Korea National Park Service says the first spotting of mountain goats in Juwangsan Mountain in 40 years indicates that the goats' habitats have extended to all parts of the Baekdudaegan Mountain Range.