Out of all the things you can do, don’t put a child in front of a wild animal like this.
Elk are one of the largest members of the deer family, with adult males, known as bulls, weighing in at up to 1,000 pounds and standing up to five feet tall at the shoulder. They have massive and pointy antlers that can span up to six feet across.
Rocky Mountain National Park is home to a healthy population of elk with an estimated 600 to 800 individuals living in the park year-round. During the fall mating season these populations can increase to up to 3,000 individuals as elk from surrounding areas migrate to the park.
While elk are a big reason people go to the Rocky Mountains, they can also be a bit dangerous. During the fall rut bulls can become aggressive and territorial, and may charge or attack humans who get too close. There are other occurrences of cows become agitated.
Either way, elk encounters should be avoided as these large animals can be unpredictable.
This fella was walking by as a family of tourists approached a grazing cow elk in Rocky Mountain National Park.
They people bent down and grabbed grass, holding it out trying to entice the elk. They even encourage their child to reach out and feed it. The man filming keeps on walking and flips the camera around just in time to catch the elk biting the kid’s hand.
And if you’ve ever been bitten by a horse, elk teeth are sorta similar… it hurts… a lot.
The man just shakes his head and keeps on walking.
Stay away from these animals even though they are pretty cool.
