Sunday, January 13, 2013

Limping in Boulder? You're outta here!

(Cliff Grassmick, The Daily Camera)

An elk was killed by a policeman in Boulder, Colorado this week. Over two hundred people there held a eulogy for him. He had been hanging around their liberal neighborhood for quite a while. Denver Post columnist Rick Tosches, himself a flaming liberal, albeit one with a raucous sense of humor, writes about it in today's paper.

The other night in Boulder, a few hundred people wearing sweaters they loomed themselves from the wool of happy, laughing sheep sang — I am not kidding — "We Shall Overcome" and "Amazing Grace" at a tear-filled candlelight vigil for a deceased elk.

OK, maybe I'm being a bit insensitive. The truth is, I've lived in Colorado for 20 years and am still in awe of our mountains and scenery and incredible wildlife. Frankly, I love elk. Especially with wild rice and A.1. Steak Sauce.

Many people in Boulder share my passion for this majestic animal, which the Cheyenne and Cree called wapiti, a combination of the Native words wa ("who") and piti ("ate all my shrubs?").

The Boulder Daily Camera (motto: "Say CHEESE!") reported that a resident "saw people approach the elk with their cellphone cameras repeatedly ... with some people coming within 10 feet of the animal. The elk would then lower his head and begin to charge."

Wildlife experts caution people to stay at least 11 feet from a bull elk, 12 feet from a bear, 14 feet from a mountain lion, and 500 feet from former state lawmaker Douglas Bruce (unless you are wearing shin guards).

Anyway, on the night of Jan. 1, a Boulder police officer saw the urban elk and killed it with a shotgun blast because he said it was limping, an explanation that should be of some concern to anyone in a Boulder assisted-living center.

And so Boulderites, some 200 of them, gathered for a candlelight vigil to honor and mourn their really big friend. At the center of the gathering was a discarded Christmas tree with a framed photo of the elk nestled in its branches.

"We loved him," vigil organizer Jim Riemersma said of the elk. "But I think he loved us, too, because he returned to this neighborhood."

No one knows why the elk stayed, although — and this just a guess — I imagine when he died he had 10 pounds of expensive, organic apples from Whole Foods in his stomach.

"I would walk our dogs," said Riemersma, "and would always look forward to seeing him." And I think we can all agree that there's nothing that makes an elk happier in the dim light than seeing a couple of dogs.

Read more: Tosches: Eulogy for an elk in Boulder - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_22351393#ixzz2HsQbeMIS

Update: About fifty people marched in Boulder yesterday to "keep the pressure" on authorities to prosecute the police officer who killed the elk. They marched silently in frigid temperatures, but were accompanied by elk calls. I am not kidding. Here is the video.

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_22364015/about-50-people-march-pearl-street-mall-honor

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