3rd cow elk attack in estes park
Elk
A 3rd cow elk attacked someone this week in Estes Park. The news report says the experts don't know why the sudden uptick.
Anybody else think this is directly related to the wolf release?
How would it be directly related to the wolf release? I, for one, am just disappointed JohnMC wasn’t there to get some action shots of the ordeal with his camera!
Jet contrails most likely driving them crazy
Evidentially none of the experts know and none of the rookies here know so let's chalk it up to a good run by the girls.
Either they had calves nearby or had no calf at all and still pissed off at being ignored last Fall! Kinda how some of your wives get. Even some of us old foresters can figure a few things out! Duh!
Im sure getting to close to their calves whether they see em or not.
I was trying to but it attacked me
“Anybody else think this is directly related to the wolf release?”
What’s the distance between Estes and the nearest pack?
If the cows involved have been directly harassed by wolves, it’s at least plausible that they would be driven into town and would be more reactive/protective than usual….
So there might be a hypothesis worth looking into, but probably no data…
So that leaves you closer to another conspiracy theory than anything else… Shockingly enough…
It is absolutely related even though wolves aren't around Estes. People making bad decisions is the root cause of both.
Maybe they hate non residents like most on here
As soon as 1.5 million in grant money is released to study this for 2 years we will find out why. Or not!
Not until the study is peer reviewed
Seems like just a situation where people were probably to close to calves - knowingly or unknowingly. Just a weird one off where it happened in a cluster. Maybe a food issue or something. Who knows. My money though goes with GG.
the experts shared a lot of information on the 10MM thread that could help us be safer if we encounter this new species known as a grelk.
The elk in Estes are harassed by people, they have learned and it is calving season.
Im sure getting to close to their calves whether they see em or not.
Been my observation cow elk can be just as territorial as domestic dairy or beef cattle are. ( or human females)
"The news report says the experts don't know why the sudden uptick."
No it doesn't.... The article repeated discussed the well known aggressiveness of cow elk during calving season.
Walking Buffalo. That is true. It talks about how uncommon this is and how they have never seen a year like this. There is no mention of why this unprecedented thing is happening. I should have just quoted the article.
Most likely, it is just random, but I wonder if the introduction of wolves has something to do with it. If any of those elk have been recently harassed by wolves, then it wouldn't surprise me if they are more aggressive now then in the past.
I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. Estes park is an unnatural system where elk live with one of their predators but the predator is not allowed to kill and eat them. So the elk learn that in Estes Park they are actually the dominant animal rather humans. This is simply not safe for the people.
The problem is not that they are harassed by people. The problem is that they are not harassed enough.
I wonder what percentage of people can't understand the situation is exactly that.
Just curious, were any of these people trying to take a picture of the elk with their iPhones?
"Can I get a selfie with you, Mrs. Elk?"
Hopefully those attacks were on illegal aliens or liberal idiots. Animals can usually sense an idiot.
Shane
AG pretty well covered it.
"It’s directly related to retards who don’t understand wildlife, IMO."
"Just curious, were any of these people trying to take a picture of the elk with their iPhones?"
The 8 year old girl on her bike, the 4 year old boy on the playground, or the lady walking her leashed dog?
“On May 30, an 8-year-old girl was riding her bike when a cow elk charged the girl from around 60 yards away and stomped her.”
Damn. THAT is unexpected. Sure can’t fault the child for 60 yards….
I was there 2 years ago during the middle of the elk rut and bulls were screaming and herding cows. People were acting stupid. I saw at least 3 different people in less than 30 minutes come close to getting hurt badly. One lady got so close she had to hide behind a forked tree to let the herd bull go by. This was right by the visitors center/welcome center. Based on my limited experience I’m shocked that people don’t get gored or trampled every fall.
"Most likely, it is just random, but I wonder if the introduction of wolves has something to do with it. If any of those elk have been recently harassed by wolves, then it wouldn't surprise me if they are more aggressive now then in the past."
No, it's not random. It's Elk being Elk and stupid People being Stupid. Sure, innocence people such as the little girl will get hurt, because of the stupidity of others.
Banff had a similar elk issue years ago, before the return of wolves ate them all. In Banff the answer to protect people from Elk was to harass the Elk until they left town. It worked.
