An elk who banged heads with a photographer in North Carolina in a YouTube video was put down by staff at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the first time Friday The Asheville Citizen-Times reported Tuesday.
"(The video) was the first incident that we know of that the elk engaged in physical contact (with a visitor spokewoman Dana Soehn told The Citizen-Times. "(The footage) was a critical step in the (decision-making) to euthanize. This was not a one-time incident. (The video) was a trigger; the physical contact escalated our decision. This fall, there have been several elk that have become food-conditioned. We have reports of visitors who have been feeding them and the elk have been getting closer and closer. ... that one potato chip does make a big difference."
Officials felt it was not safe to put the animal in another area because it could have hurt another human.
"Unfortunately, this 800-pound elk charged several visitors," the park said in a statement The Citizen-Times reported. "Now that the rut is essentially over, the elk's aggressive behavior should lessen and by removing the elk's antlers which are annually shed, biologists further reduced the risk for harm to visitors."
The video had over one million views, and over 2,000 comments as of Tuesday afternoon.
"(I am truly) saddened by the decision to put down the animal. I was really looking forward to watching him grow up," James York, the man sitting on the side of the road in the video told The Citizen-Times. "I felt like I bonded with him. I am crushed that he's gone. I was looking forward to his rack getting bigger and maturing into a bull."
The video was taken Oct. 20 on the Cataloochee Trail in North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains. No one was hurt according to The Citizen-Times.
