MOUNT BLUE SKY — Mountains, goats, and a Subaru, hard to get much more Colorado than that, and that is exactly what a local wildlife photographer captured last week at Mount Blue Sky.
Local wildlife photographer, Michael Ryno, President of Professional Photographers of Colorado, was on a trip up Mt. Blue Sky when the group of goats caught his eye and ended up becoming one of his most unique experiences while out chasing down the perfect shot.
"As I made my way up the mountain, I came across these... herd of goats I was photographing, and as I'm photographing them with my camera, I noticed that some of the goats started playing around, hopping up on the car," said Michael.
The video, which has become viral, garnered over a million views across social media platforms and over 1,000 comments on Instagram kicked off a flurry of responses.
Yakima Roof Racks commented on the video saying, "Believe it or not we actually test our products for situations like this."
The Subaru and the car rack were undamaged as later confirmed by the owner of the vehicle, Mindy Williford, who had been on an extended hike when she returned to her vehicle recording her reaction to the various hoof prints now littering the Subaru.
Now you may be wondering, and many in the comments were, "Why did you do nothing to stop them?"
In our interview, Michael touched on these concerns and talked a little bit about his ethics when it comes to wildlife. Like any wild animal, the dangers of unpredictable behavior is elevated when there is the presence of baby animals and that was one of the reasons Michael took a view from a distance.
"As a wildlife photographer, I tend to try and want to make sure that I don't intervene with them in their natural environment," said Michael. "You want to try and let them enjoy nature and the scenes and the environment that they're naturally in, whether that be on rocks, or whether that be on a car and a storage box."
Not pictured in the video, just on the other side of the Subaru, Michael said there were two baby mountain goats who he later photographed and he wanted nothing to do with the horns.
Furthermore, Michael believes that as a wildlife photographer, it is not for him to disturb these animals in their natural habitats, and if humans bring in foreign objects to animal's habitat, this is one of the things people should expect to happen.
"As far as uniqueness, this is by far the top of the list," said Michael. "I've never come across anything quite as unique as this."
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