Colorado Police Warn Against Taking Elk Selfies After Antler Accident

Colorado officials warned camera-happy tourists not to try to take selfies with the local elks after one such animal threw a man into the air with its antlers last week when the selfie-seeker got to close. The man was hospitalized.

“That’s one thing you don’t want to do: Put yourself in a selfie with an elk,” Estes Park police commander Eric Rose told the Coloradoan. “You just don’t want to get that close.”

A herd of hundreds of elks regularly draw onlookers outside Rocky Mountain National Park. The animals can weigh over 500 pounds and wander freely around the park. While they’re usually used to humans surrounding them, officials say they’re prepared to attack.

“Some folks think that we cage them. Some folks think that we have fences for them. And we don’t,” Rose said. “It’s their place just as well as ours.”

[Coloradoan]