Missing Elk Returned To PA Owners

LEHIGH TOWNSHIP, PA — An elk that went missing from his enclosure at his home in Northampton County has been found and safely returned to his owner.

The owner's fence was damaged by wind in Northampton Township over the weekend, allowing the elk to escape, police said.

The animal roamed through the area, was spotted on Mountain View Drive, and police briefly asked for the public's help in locating him.

The elk was finally found safely by search parties. Police said they used a tranquilizer and a skid loader to get him back home.

"After they got him into the pen, he started to wake up and stood up," police said, cementing the happy ending.

This animal was not a wild elk. Native elk went extinct in Pennsylvania amid overhunting and development in the post-colonial era, but a reintroduction program of a different species, Rocky Mountain Elk, was launched in 1913. Today, the Game Commission estimates there about a thousand wild elk in Pennsylvania.

Authorities thanked the public for their assistance in providing tips to the missing animal's location.