WAUSAU, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – On Tuesday night, a bull elk that was spotted traversing Wisconsin in search of love died after being hit by a semi-truck in Illinois.
Elk specialist Christina Kizewski of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources told 27 News in Madison that bull elk 357 was struck by a vehicle on Interstate 55 at Interstate 80. The ear tag on the male elk helped identify it, and the Wisconsin DNR was notified of the accident by the Illinois DNR on Wednesday morning.
“We’ve received reports over near Lake Merritt in Marathon County near Wausau; it did shift up to Taylor County and then kind of headed straight south,” Kizewski said. “There were reports near that Auburndale area, Wisconsin Rapids, Colombia County, and then further south, and most recently, McFarland and Edgerton.”
Kizewski believed the elk most likely left his herd in search of new breeding prospects because he was seen as the less dominant male, saying, “There’s most often one bull elk, the most dominant bull elk, that does a majority of the breeding,” she said. “So these less dominant bulls will make these movements to look for additional breeding opportunities.”
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