Domesticated Elk Wanders Boulder Co. Neighborhood [WATCH]

BOULDER COUNTY, CO – Marie, or Maybelle, the domesticated elk, has become a presence in the neighborhood around Walker Ranch in the 700 block of Cougar Lane, neighbors say. But wildlife officials from Colorado Parks and Wildlife say she's a hazard-waiting-to-happen and worry that she could injure someone.

"We had some reports where it has chased people. It has chased dogs," Colorado Parks and Wildlife District Wildlife Manager Peter Boyatt told the Daily Camera. "It's not this cute and cuddly little calf anymore. Hopefully it's not too late. But if it does attack or hurt or harm a human, then we will have to euthanize it."

The elk cow was raised by a Walker Ranch woman and may, or may not, have been abandoned as a calf after her mother was struck by a car, wildlife officials told the Camera.

In the beginning of June she broke into a home in the neighborhood, and residents posted a video on social media of them shooing her out of their living room.

But neighbors have strong opinions about whether she should be allowed to wander the yards of the neighborhood.

"She acts like a dog," one neighbor said.

"If the mountain lions were to get her, fine, that is the circle of life. I could understand that," neighbor Margaret Peacock told the Camera. "I hope that it would be the lions that would take her, and not Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Taking her and killing her... it isn't her fault that she likes people."

Read more in the Daily Camera.

Image via YouTube