Elk ran 5K alongside humans, now heading to Wildlife Safari

Dayville, Ore. – An overly-friendly elk is headed to Wildlife Safari in Winston after he made headlines running alongside 54 human participants during a 5K run in Eastern Oregon.

The Blue Mountain Eagle reports that “Buddy” the elk ran the entire length of the race, though he took some breaks from the route along the way. Buddy ended the race by wandering through the crowd at the finish line in downtown Dayville.

Buddy is well known to residents of the town of Dayville, but this is the first time he entered city limits.

An Oregon Department Fish and Wildlife biologist suspects that Buddy was possibly raised by humans, which would explain why he’s habituated to people. The elk had already been moved once to the Phillip Schneider Wildlife Area, but he eventually found his way back to civilization.