Wild encounter - photographer and young bull elk

[Jds63]

This guy has cahones !!!!

 

[davey buoy]

Pretty cool!!!!,but I think the guy needs to get back on his meds!lol.

Edited December 6, 2013 by davey buoy

[lew]

There was a good reason why I kept a fence between me and this big fella when I was taking his picture recently

 

[DundasSteelheader]

National Park Service later put that elk down. Seems unfair to me.

[Christopheraaron]

National Park Service later put that elk down. Seems unfair to me.

x2, could have definitely moved it I would think.

[John Bacon]

Didn't seem like too many people were interested in helping him during a potential life threatening situation.

[Christopheraaron]

I can't really see what they would do, scare the elk and you risk it getting frightened enough that it hurts the guy.

[davey buoy]

I thought the Elk was very well behaved for the situation.Could of been worse no doubt.Did he deserve to be put down for his actions?????

[John Bacon]

I can't really see what they would do, scare the elk and you risk it getting frightened enough that it hurts the guy.

 

I would have slowly driven my vehicle up to the elk. Although it is possible that this would cause the attack; I think it would be more likely to prevent an attack then cause one. I think that is better than just standing there filming it.

Edited December 7, 2013 by JohnBacon

[irishfield]

He kept putting his head down... so it thought he wanted to play!

[cram]

He kept putting his head down... so it thought he wanted to play!

 

 

Exactly.

 

 

[Christopheraaron]

I thought the Elk was very well behaved for the situation.Could of been worse no doubt.Did he deserve to be put down for his actions?????

The reason they put it down is that this happened several other times with that same elk.

 

Edit: Still don't agree with it being shot though.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Christopher k

[davey buoy]

The reason they put it down is that this happened several other times with that same elk.

 

Edit: Still don't agree with it being shot though.

I think as mentioned,he just wanted to play.Let's face it ,if he was mad it wouldn't be pretty.

[pidge]

Defiantly not wired right. I was waiting for an antler to do some serious damage. Never trust an animal.

[bare foot wader]

Cool experience I'm sure for the photographer but unfortunate for the bull

 

Wild animals deserve to be wild...if that guy wanted to be up close, go to a zoo. Habituating a wild animal to human interaction, in a national park especially, is no different than feeding bears IMO, you're creating a problem animal, that guy should've received a fine.

 

Wild animals need separation, if not the animal always loses. The park service did the right thing, they can't allow a known risk to continue, what would've happened when a mature bull decided to rut with a tourist?