An Arizona woman has died over a week after she was victim to an elk attack in her own backyard, wildlife officials said.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said the woman — who has not been publicly named — was trampled on her property in the Pine Lake community in the Hualapai Mountains on Oct. 26.
The woman’s husband told the authority that when he returned home that afternoon, he found his wife lying on the ground of their yard with “injuries consistent with being trampled by an elk.”
Authorities said the incident is believed to be the first fatal elk attack in Arizona.
Though there were no witnesses to the trampling, the wildlife department said a bucket of spilled corn found near the woman suggests she was trying to feed a wild animal. The woman’s husband called 911 and she was taken to a nearby hospital.
She died eight days after the attack, following a transfer to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, Nev.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s office declared the woman’s death an accident.
This week, officials have reminded residents living in the Hualapai Mountains not to feed wild animals, especially larger ones like elk. Fish and game department officers went door-to-door in the area around Pine Lake to distribute door hanger warning signs encouraging people not to approach wild animals. The authority also erected two new roadside signs about interacting with elk.
Within the last five years, there have only been five other reported elk attacks in the state of Arizona, wildlife officials claimed. The main cause of these human-elk attacks (as well as other wild animal attacks) is reportedly feeding, as fed wildlife can become “habituated to humans.”
“Wildlife that are fed by people, or that get food sources from items such as unsecured garbage or pet food, lose their natural fear of humans and become dependent on unnatural food sources,” the fish and game department explained. “Feeding puts at risk the person doing the feeding, their neighbors, and the wildlife itself. Please do not feed wildlife.”
The authority cited another instance in 2015 when two children suffered minor injuries after a food-seeking elk approached their family picnic table during a meal in the Hualapai Mountains.
Officials said they will continue to monitor elk behaviour and activity in the region.
Pine Lake is about 24 kilometres southeast of Kingman, Ariz.
In Canada, the likelihood of being attacked by a wild animal is not high.
Residents in Alberta are reportedly more likely to be victims of an animal attack than any of their provincial counterparts, according to a SportingPedia study released earlier this year. Using Parks Canada data from 2010 to 2021, researchers noted there were 3,726 reported wildlife attacks in Alberta during that timeframe. Elks are the animals that most commonly get aggressive with humans, according to that specific data.
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