Wandering elk moved to wildlife exhibit in Charleston

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - An elk that wandered into South Carolina’s mountains and wouldn’t go home has been moved to a wildlife exhibit in Charleston.

The state Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday the 500-pound elk has a new home at Charles Towne Landing, a state historic site that includes a natural habitat zoo.

The elk was first spotted roaming the woodlands of Pickens County in October. State wildlife biologists think larger bulls pushed the young bull from its home territory in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.

Biologists tranquilized the animal Dec. 16 and moved it to remote Oconee County, hoping it would keep moving north and rejoin its herd.

But it didn’t, and photos and video posted on social media showed people continuing to disregard biologists’ warnings not to approach or feed it. So biologists decided the move to Charleston was best for the elk and public safety.

“It has become accustomed to people, so it will allow people to approach it, but it is unpredictable and this behavior can create dangerous situations,” state wildlife biologist Tammy Wactor said in a release.

It’s unclear when visitors to Charles Towne Landing will be able to see the elk. The release says it will be quarantined until biologists determine it’s ready to join other animals behind the open fencing.

The animals once were native to the Lowcountry but were wiped out in the Carolinas in the 1700s. The species was reintroduced to North Carolina in 2001.

Charles Towne Landing conserves where English settlers arrived in 1670 to start the Carolina colony.