Arizona woman trampled to death in state’s first recorded fatal elk attack

An Arizona woman died from injuries suffered last week in what officials called the state’s first documented fatal elk attack.

The woman, unnamed by authorities, was found injured in her Pine Lake, Arizona, backyard on Oct. 26 with a bucket of spilled corn nearby, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said in a release Tuesday.

There were no witnesses, but the woman’s injuries were consistent with those of other elk trampling victims, state wildlife officials said.

The victim was put into a medically induced coma at a Las Vegas hospital before dying on Friday.

Arizona game officials did not specifically tie the fatal attack to an attempted feeding of an elk, but did post warnings in Pine Lake after the incident warning residents against feeding the animals.

Arizona has had five confirmed elk attacks in the past five years, officials said. Feeding animals makes them less afraid of humans and dependent on human food, increasing the risk that they attack humans to acquire the food.