Lovelorn Fools - Urban Elk
Created on 9/24/2009
While springtime has the ambience of romance and love, autumn is when many animals, ungulates in particular, strut their stuff and woo their mates. Unfortunately, the local landscape often takes the brunt of their efforts.
One of the first natural history films I worked on for National Geographic was ‘Urban Elk’ where we filmed the bulls wreaking havoc on the town and residents of Banff, Alberta. A bull staked out the restroom at a campground and chased people back into the building because the squeaking door set him off; they attacked vehicles even when parked; elk ran through downtown traffic and strolled through playgrounds; and entire herds tore up the picture perfect golf course at the Banff Springs Hotel. On a crisp, cold morning – we’re talking a perfect scene for a commercial with frost everywhere and steam coming off of the elk in the early morning light - I watched a bull paw up an area about the size of a pick up truck on the greens, then urinate and roll in it. Kind of a wild kingdom cologne! The groundskeeper was so frustrated he threw his rake at him.
Trees and gardens didn’t fare much better in town. The cows viewed window boxes as their personal buffets, and anything that wasn’t caged was devoured or destroyed. Caging isn’t exactly attractive, but it was the only way to have anything growing.
Locals knew enough to keep away from the bulls since they developed such an attitude during this time of year that they’d chase anyone who looked at them wrong. But tourists were notorious for moving in too close for that action shot on the camera, or thought they could commune with the animals. Some were smart and fast enough to run – typically while being pursued around a tree or other obstacle - while others did their communing in the hospital with puncture wounds and lacerations.
The year I was there, the wardens tranquilized a particularly aggressive bull, and cut off his antlers before releasing him outside of the town site. Even though this had been a nasty one who put the chase on me a time or two during the week we were there, I still felt badly for him. I’m sure it humbled him not to have such weapons at his disposal any longer, and couldn’t have helped his popularity with the ladies.
From what I understand, the elk aren’t as big of an issue in Banff anymore. Wolves moved in closer to town knocking down numbers, and there have been hazing measures to reduce the human-elk interaction. On the Banff Springs Golf Course, border collies were brought in to keep the elk from becoming a hazard (I honestly have no idea how putting around a cow would score), and it seems they are less of an issue.
Although Banff was an extreme situation, it has to make any gardener feel a little better when dealing with pesky deer or rabbits. Just think, you could have an entire herd of elk parked on your front lawn munching your petunias, and chasing you back into the house!
