Elk With Chair On Head, Missing In Ruidoso, Found

He had been wandering around Ruidoso with a chair stuck on his head but now Elwood Elk, (I named him that, after Marty Moose in "Vacation"), seems to have vanished.

The elk was seen by many people and had practically everyone calling out fish and game officials for not tranquilizing him and freeing him. They finally did get approval to do that but now "Elwood" seems to have disappeared which, honestly, may be a good thing.

Elwood being MIA may be a good sign as officials say it could mean he somehow freed himself and is now happily doing elk stuff, sans chair, without them having to put him through the trauma of being captured. See a pic of him here.

That part I don't get; what trauma? Dart to the butt, he falls asleep, wakes up chairless. Simple, right? Granted I'm no expert but that seems pretty easy peasy.

Anyway, officials finally got the OK to do that but then Elwood stopped popping up leaving people wondering if he was ok. We can all relax now, he's cool. I'm glad to say that ... literally, as I was writing this ... he was found and he's now just fine.

He didn't manage to somehow lose the chair on his own but he was finally spotted and officials did him a solid and removed the chair. Which, I'm sure, restored his faith in humanity and left him feeling much better about life.

The update that Elwood's ok was posted today, (1/2/25), on Ruidoso PD's Facebook page.