On Friday evening one of the local elk herds was doing what they do quite often, peacefully grazing on the Elks’ Club property. On Saturday morning Elks member Lance Slyter received a call that there was a dead elk on the club’s property at 941 Merchant Road.

Forks Police Officer Todd Garcia arrived on the scene around 1 p.m. and there was mention that members at the club the evening before thought that they had heard gun fire.

After a call to WDFW it was determined that the elk had died of natural causes. Apparently young elk can succumb to digestive problems during this time of year. There was no obvious trauma to the animal and its stomach seemed bloated.

Moe Flores helped load the deceased animal into a pickup and an unidentified county employee took the animal away.