Elk slices golfer’s kidney in half in attack on Colorado course, reports say
A golfer’s kidney sliced into two pieces after a bull elk charged at him, its antlers cutting through his body, news outlets report.
Zak Bornhoft was golfing at the Evergreen Golf Course southwest of Denver, Colorado when elk invaded the course, Fox 31 reported. More than 100 elk were on the course, but Bornhoft said he always kept his distance and never “felt threatened,” according to The Denver Post.
“We took it slow to get out of the way,” Bornhoft said, according to The Denver Post. “However this bull elk was eyeing us down.”
Bornhoft and the group he was golfing with avoided the elk up until the 17th hole, CBS Denver reported. One of the elk came up and nudged their golf cart, Bornhoft’s wife Megan told the news outlet.
The group tried to slowly leave the area, but the bull charged the side of the golf cart, and the elk’s antlers went “directly into” Bornhoft’s side, The Denver Post reported.
There was a 5-inch gash in his side and his kidney split into two pieces, CBS Denver reported.
“The doctor told me three inches either way we wouldn’t be sitting here,” his wife told Fox 31. “He said it would have been better to have been stabbed with a knife because of the dirt on the elk antlers.”
Bornhoft is expected to make a full recovery, The Denver Post reported.
Elk are not uncommon on the golf course, Colorado Parks and Wildlife told CBS Denver. The city told Fox 31 that “no one in recent history has been gored by an elk on the course.”
“Elk love to go onto that golf course for the green grass and there’s a lot of people who love to go and watch them and we’ve got to all kind of find a way to co-exist,” Jason Clay with Colorado Parks and Wildlife told CBS Denver. “These are very powerful animals and an incident like this could really end up killing someone.”
From September to mid-October is considered the mating season for elk, McClatchy News reported. The animals can be aggressive during the rut, and people who get close have been seriously hurt before.
Elk can run quickly and change direction without warning, McClatchy News reported. Males can weigh up to 700 pounds and females can weigh 500.
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Elk slices golfer’s kidney in half in attack on Colorado course, reports say."