Yet another elk stomps on person in Estes Park — an "unprecedented" three attacks in 8 days

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/10/yet-another-elk-stomps-on-person-in-estes-park-an-unprecedented-three-attacks-in-8-days.html

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I’m guessing this all has to do with continued encroachment on wildlife habitat by suburban development.

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Everywhere humans live started as wildlife habitat. If there aren’t wild animals in your area, it doesn’t mean that people found a place to live where they wouldn’t be disturbing nature. It means humans wiped out all the local animals there.

Estes Park was settled in 1859. That means people have been living there longer than in a whole lot of major American cities. The difference between Estes Park, Colorado and (for example) Tulsa, Oklahoma is that the people who live in Estes have managed to coexist with the local elk population instead of driving them to extinction.

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But if the boat were sinking would trump stay with the boat or swim toward the elk.

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Normally that would be the case but Estes Park is nestled directly next to Rocky Mountain National Park and is distinctly not urban. It has had herds of elk wandering throughout the town for many decades.

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Maybe humans have made actual progress in leaving wildlife alone, and this is the natural result of their reentering spaces that used to be less friendly to them. The settlers hunted them ruthlessly in part for meat, and in part so they wouldn’t be a threat. Now that they’re more protected than they were any time after the arrival of the settlers, their numbers have likely grown and this could simply be their reexpansion into territory we’ve long considered “ours.”

Or maybe they’ve been chatting with the orcas, and have decided that they’ve had it up to the antlers with these human things.

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This. Thirty years ago you might have a bison here or a porpoise there with some extreme ideas. Now with widespread internet access everyone is part of a movement. Smh.

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Trump sank with the battery while the elk grabbed the boat. Wildlife are getting more savvy.

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The Elks morphed from a club to a gang.

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Maybe the elks and orcas have formed an alliance?

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