An Arizona woman was killed by an elk in her own backyard, in what officials say was the state’s first-ever fatal attack.
The woman, who lives in the Pine Lake community in the Hualapai Mountains, was found by her husband lying on the ground in her backyard on 26 October, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said in a statement.
Her husband had just returned from work around 6pm; when he got closer to his wife, he saw she had been completely trampled and had severe injuries on her that looked like they came from an elk.
While there were no other witnesses to the freak attack, her husband spotted a bucket of corn spilled near her wife.
It is unclear how long the woman was lying there before her husband got home.
After calling 911, the woman was taken to the Kingman Regional Medical Center and then to Sun Rise Hospital in Las Vegas in the neighbouring state.
Her husband told the department that her injuries were so severe that she was put into a medically induced coma.
On 3 November, eight days after the woman was hospitalised from the elk attack, she had passed away.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s office has noted the death as caused by an accident.
The woman died eight days after the elk attacked her— (George Rose/Getty Images)
The day after the attack, a local resident told the department, who then went around the community door-to-door where the horrific incident occurred, putting out door-hanger warning signs.
While speaking to the victim’s husband about what happened at his home, the department’s officers said multiple elk tracks were in the yard.
After the woman died, the department’s officers went again to the community to put out more door-hanger warning signs.
Two roadside warnings were also erected advising people not to approach or feed the elk.
The officials believe this was the first fatal elk attack ever recorded in Arizona. While there have been five reports of elk attacks in the past five years, none have caused someone’s death.
The department noted that past elk attacks have been prompted by humans feeding the wildlife, meaning that the animals have become more habituated to humans.
In 2015, two children sustained minor injuries after an elk circled a family picnic in the Hualapai Mountains.
A more severe head injury was given to a woman in 2021 from an elk that was habituated to humans in Pine.
“The public is urged to help keep wildlife wild. 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 department said in their statement.
“Feeding puts at risk the person doing the feeding, their neighbours, and the wildlife itself. Please do not feed wildlife.”
