Beloved Texas mountain goat named ‘Bob’ dies during relocation gone bad

A beloved mountain goat known as “Bob” to hikers and locals in West Texas has died during a relocation effort.
Bob’s death has prompted an outpouring of sadness and anger in El Paso, where Bob long roamed Texas’ Franklin Mountains as a stoic celebrity.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said it needed to move the free-range goat from his home to minimize the risk of disease as it prepares to reintroduce native desert bighorn sheep to the region.
Domestic and wild sheep and goats can easily spread diseases. A bacteria called M. ovi is highly transmissible and has devastated bighorn sheep in Texas, TPWD said in a news release.
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“The risk of ‘Bob’ the goat spreading the disease was too great to allow it to remain on the mountain during restoration efforts,” the agency said. “Keeping it there would have jeopardized the successful establishment of a healthy desert bighorn population.”
A local farmer volunteered to take Bob in, but he never made it to his new home. On Aug. 13, after multiple failed attempts using various capture methods, parks and wildlife staff captured Bob by roping him, and he died in the process.
“The death of … ‘Bob’ the goat was an unfortunate and unintended result of the relocation effort,” Froylán Hernández, the department’s desert bighorn sheep program leader, said in the release.
El Paso’s “Bob the Goat” has died during a relocation attempt ahead of desert bighorn sheep reintroduction in the Franklin Mountains. The goat was a familiar figure to drivers, hikers and cyclists. Read more about Bob and efforts to protect local wildlife.https://t.co/NDQM28FdFF
Bob was at least nine years old but suspected to be significantly older, the department said. The typical life span of domestic sheep and goats in free range settings is about 10 to 13 years.
No one knows exactly how Bob landed in the Franklin Mountains, but TPWD believes he was a domestic goat who escaped from a nearby farm or was intentionally released on the side of the road, according to El Paso Matters. Sightings began in 2015.
With his recognizable white fur, beard and curling brown horns, Bob quickly became a popular sight in the Franklin Mountains. El Pasoans delighted in spotting the goat on their drives, hikes and cycling trips, El Paso Matters reported.
Wildlife workers did not attempt to remove Bob before because he posed no danger to native wildlife. That changed after TPWD announced this year that it planned to reintroduce native bighorn sheep to the Franklin Mountains this fall as part of a decadeslong restoration process.
Bighorn desert sheep once roamed the Texas mountainside, but livestock diseases, hunting and loss of habitat nearly decimated the population.
This week, El Pasoans said they were devastated by Bob’s death and wanted more information. “Bob was a legend amongst hikers,” one person wrote on the El Paso Matters Facebook page. “He brought joy to El Paso and our community. Someone needs to be held accountable.” Another called him an “El Paso icon.”
Parks and wildlife staff have collected tissue samples from Bob to pinpoint a cause of death and determine if the bacteria M. ovi is present in the Franklin Mountains, the department said.