Cle Elum’s favorite elk is on the move again.
Ellie, as we have named her (others in town also know her as “Button”), is a wild elk that was separated from her herd at a young age. She found a safe haven in the pasture of a nearby ranch, where she helped herself to the hay set out for the horses and cattle throughout the winter. She’s free to come as go as she pleases, since elk can easily jump the fences typically used to contain farm animals. In the warmer months, when food is plentiful, she wanders the Bristol Flats canyon and the side of Lookout Mountain, and because spring came early to the Northwest this year, she decided to venture over to the sanctuary this week for a visit.
She likes to stop by the sanctuary office to check up on us and the cats:
She also seems to enjoy teasing our dogs. They’ve never met an animal so unmoved by their barking and growling. But that doesn’t stop them from trying.
She greets all visitors to the sanctuary, including unsuspecting repairmen.
Seeing Ellie is always bittersweet. We’d love to see her rejoin a wild herd, but in the few times they have come back through the canyon, she has either declined to join them or was not accepted. In many ways, she probably has the same kind of identity confusion that we see in cross-fostered chimpanzees (chimps that were raised as if they were human). Perhaps she even sees herself as more cow or horse than elk.
But she certainly enriches the lives of the chimps. When they first saw her two years ago, they tried to scare her away from Young’s Hill. But unlike our dogs, they eventually realized that she wasn’t going anywhere, and now they greet her more with interest than with fear or territoriality.
Sandra, a Level 3 volunteer, was walking around the hill with Jamie yesterday when Ellie decided to make an appearance. She and Debbie put together this video:
JB — Just think of you humans, the chimps, the dogs and cats as enrichment for Ellie. 🙂
I love how brave they were and glad people are watching out for Ellie.
Wonderful to see Ellie feeling comfortable & safe with you. I could watch these videos over and over again, and sometimes I do! Thank you for sharing!
mmmmmm….. looks like Jamie will have a lot of patrolling to do these days…..
Ellie must know she is safe there with all of you. She is beautiful. It’s so nice to see the chimps reactions. What a great video – thank you!
Did Ellie really get that close to you or was that a zoom lens!? That is simply amazing. The chimps look so small on the Hill, I loved seeing them just hanging out doing their thing — an interesting perspective. And Ellie looks huge next to the chimps. What a great video (and photos too). I think Ellie wants to come into the office and be a house pet and join your cat and dog.
Hi Kathleen – That’s actually one of the problems with Ellie – not only will she get that close to you, she will try to follow you into the house. We’d love it if she were a bit more wary of humans, but she has no fear at all. Luckily, she ended up in an area where most people want to protect her. I’ve even talked to people in town who regularly hunt elk and they ask how she’s doing because they want to make sure she’s OK. I’m not going to spend too much time trying to figure out the logic there (I guess she’s seen as more of a “pet” than a wild animal); I’ll just be thankful that she has so many people looking out for her.
I find this so unbelievable. Poor Ellie, can’t believe she is so very trusting. At the same time I have to think ‘lucky’ Ellie because if she is this friendly, thank goodness she is living in a safe place where she is protected. (Maybe the chimps left an imprint on her and she thinks she is one of them.) And I think the hunters need to understand every elk is an “Ellie”. I just can’t get over how close she gets to all of you! That top photo blows me away.
As always, thanks so much for the reply.