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Sickly bull elk shot after traffic standoff JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - National park rangers shot a sickly bull elk after it charged traffic and head-butted a ranger's car severely enough to puncture the radiator. Officials tried to coerce the ornery animal off Highway 89 for about a hour and a half with cars, flashing lights, sirens, whistles, flares and a device that sounds like a firecracker. But the animal had backed up northbound traffic and refused to get out of the way when motorists tried to drive around it, officials said. Ranger Janet Wilts started to approach the elk when she made eye contact with the animal and changed her mind. "I got out of the car and looked at him and thought, 'No,' " she said. "You know how you look at a person and you say they're not in their right mind? That elk just wasn't quite right." At one point, the elk began butting patrol vehicles and a plow truck. It nudged Wilt's car forcefully enough to leave three large holes in the radiator. "It was a situation where that elk wasn't going to move," said Grand Teton National Park Ranger Colin Campbell. "Sometimes when they're sick they act inconsistently, but I've never had one in the highway that wouldn't move." A biologist dispatched to the standoff thought the elk might have scabies, a wasting disease caused by parasitic mites that burrow under the skin. Park rangers killed the elk because of its poor health, Campbell said. Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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