Park officials said the elk could not be re-trained to be fearful of humans. They said the elk had been coming back to that area in search of food, and had begun associating humans with food.
Spokesperson Molly Schroer said placing the animal elsewhere would be passing along a potentially dangerous problem.
We caught up with the photographer, James York, after he learned about the elk's fate. He said he was deeply saddened by the turn of events.
"I'm sickened. I can't tell you how bad I feel. I was hoping to see him again and watch him grow up and become a mature bull elk and I'm just so at a loss for words," said York.
Park officials say York did not do anything wrong in the video. They say the elk approached him and he did not interact with the elk. Rangers say the elk's friendly behavior began long before he met the elk.
York said he did not understand why crews had to
"Was there no one that could take him? Was there no zoo? Was there no preserve willing to adopt this animal before they just decided to kill him?" he questioned.
York said he now wishes his famous pictures never happened.
"All the joy is gone. No one got hurt so it was a fun ride. I know the attention contributed to the animal being put down and I wish it had never happened," he said.
Rangers said it was the first time an elk has ever been
[Let's quit using words like 'euthanize' and 'put down'. Be truthful and say it for what it is - they shot and killed it.]
(WBIR - Nov 15, 2013)
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ReplyDeleteAgain, the LIE is that ending the life of healthy animals is "euthanasia". The U.S. Park Service would rather shoot a beautiful elk for their own convenience rather than do what they have been hired to do. The poor elk's only crime is having the really bad misfortune of being born in the United States National Park. These "experts" should be protecting God's creatures. Instead they kill the wild animals who live in the park and manage the park like it is a Disneyland for the moron tourist.
ReplyDeleteEuthanasia is a practice of ending suffering as by lethal injection. It is NOT the act of ending a life because someone has decided the life is inconvenient. The U.S. Park Service is just lazy and lacking ingenuity and compassion to address a problem solely created by humans
To quote Theodore Roosevelt "it is also vandalism wantonly to destroy or to permit the destruction of what is beautiful in nature, whether it be a cliff, a forest, or a species of mammal or bird. Here in the United States we turn our rivers and streams into sewers and dumping-grounds, we pollute the air, we destroy forests, and exterminate fishes, birds and mammals -- not to speak of vulgarizing charming landscapes with hideous advertisements. But at last it looks as if our people were awakening."
When the stewards of our national parks gun down a defenseless animal because it is just too hard to figure out another outcome they are killing a piece of all of us.