PHOENIX — An 83-year-old northern Arizona woman says a mother elk left her with deep bruises and lacerations after she tried to guide the mother's calf out of her yard.
Jeri Longenbaugh says she's used to seeing elk around her Payson home and didn't think she had anything to fear last Friday when she opened the front gate of her yard to let the elk calf out.
Longenbaugh tells KNXV-TV that the mother elk trampled her head and stomped all over her body.
One wound on the former Marine and grandmother's leg required 17 stitches, but doctors told her that it was a miracle that the elk didn't break any bones.
Longenbaugh warns others not to confuse these wild animals for gentle giants.
