The incident at the playground is the second elk attack on a child in Estes Park in less than a week.
A 4-year-old boy was attacked by an elk on a playground in Estes Park less than a week after a similar incident in the area involving an 8-year-old girl.
On Monday, June 3, a cow elk — or female elk — in Estes Park, Colo. charged and stomped the young boy as he was playing in a local playground around 1:30 p.m., Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) said in a statement on Tuesday, June 4.
Two elk calves were hidden near a playground in Stanley Park unbeknownst to several families using the facility when an adult elk charged the 4-year-old suddenly, stomping on him multiple times before a family member was able to scare the animal away, CPW said in a statement. The boy was taken to the hospital to be treated and released later that night.
Since the incident, the playground has been closed indefinitely and parts of the Lake Estes Loop trail have also been closed.
Just three days earlier, on Friday, May 31, an 8-year-old girl was riding her bike in Estes Park when a female elk charged her from 60 yards away, chasing her down and stomping on her several times, CPW said last week in a separate press release. She was also taken to the hospital and released the same day.
Wildlife officers found an elk calf in the area following the incident and an adult female elk became aggressive toward the officer on the scene where the young calf was discovered, CPW said.
An officer helped to transport the calf to the CPW Health Lab on Friday, “where veterinarians and wildlife specialists will care for the newborn,” per the statement.
Following both incidents, the adult elks were hazed using “non-lethal bean bag rounds” to scare them away from public areas, the department statements said.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose told the Coloradoan that the mother elk that attacked the girl was not euthanized because it reportedly “exhibited common behavior as an elk mother protecting her calf.”
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