Woman dies in Las Vegas after being trampled by elk

A woman has died after what is believed to be the first fatal elk attack in Arizona’s history.

The Oct. 26 apparent attack happened in the woman’s backyard in the Pine Lake community in the Hualapai Mountains about 15 miles southeast of Kingman, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

The death was investigated by the Clark County coroner’s office after the woman died in a Las Vegas hospital, the department said in a news release Tuesday.

According to the department, the woman’s husband returned home to discover her on the ground in the backyard “with injuries consistent with being trampled by an elk” and a bucket of spilled corn nearby, the news release said. There were no witnesses.

The feeding of wildlife is “suspected of contributing to the attack,” the news release said.

The husband called 911 and his wife was taken to Kingman Regional Medical Center before she was transferred to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. Kingman is about 100 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

Citing the husband, the news release said the woman was put in a medically induced coma. She died eight days later.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said it didn’t learn of the attack until the next day, when a resident informed a department officer, the news release said. On Oct. 28, a game and fish officer went to the community and put warning signs on residents’ doors telling people not to approach or feed elk. He also spoke to the woman’s husband and other residents.

“While at the victim’s residence, the officer observed multiple elk tracks in the yard,” the news release said.

After the woman died Nov. 3, game and fish officers went door to door in the Pine Lake community, putting up more warning signs on doors and two roadside signs telling people not to approach or feed elk.

“This is believed to be the first fatal elk attack in Arizona,” the department news release said.

In the past five years there have been five reported elk attacks, the department said. Those include a 2015 attack when two children suffered minor injuries after elk circled their family’s picnic table in the Hualapai Mountains. In 2021, a woman suffered serious head injuries from an elk in Pine, Arizona, the department said.

According to the department, the Clark County coroner’s office ruled the death accidental.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said it will continue to tell people to not feed elk and other wildlife, and will monitor elk activity in the area, the news release said.

“Feeding is one of the main sources of conflict between humans and wildlife,” the department said. “Fed wildlife becomes habituated to humans.”

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.