It is not the first time this happened, but it more than caught the eyes of all those who witnessed it anyway. A hungry spike bull elk wandered out of the Great Smoky Mountains and left the herd to visit Greenville County, South Carolina.
It was surprising to see him out here because we never have seen anything like this around this area,” Jason Redding added told WHNS-TV. “A week or two ago there were tons of pears on there. He had to eat probably 100 pounds of pears. He was standing right here and you can see everything on this side of the tree is gone.”
The elk has a GPS collar around its neck. Because of that, wildlife officials knew the animal was there.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation assisted with the successful restoration of elk to their native Great Smoky Mountains range in the early 2000s. Historically, elk also lived in South Carolina but there is not currently a wild, free-ranging herd there.
(Photo source: Great Smoky Mountains National Park)