North Carolina elk gets tangled up in red hammock

MAGGIE VALLEY, N.C. — An elk is running around western North Carolina with a shredded hammock on its head, and apparently a love of apples is to blame.

News outlets reported Jim Beaver told the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office that on Thanksgiving an elk was stuck in his yard with its antlers tangled up in a hammock.

The sheriff’s office on Facebook said Cpl. Ken Stiles climbed onto the roof, cut the hammock and freed the animal.

Beaver said elks often eat apples in his yard and play with his hammock.

This elk, however, was too playful.

Beaver said he didn’t free the elk himself, in case it decided to attack.

He told WLOS-TV the elk, with pieces of the hammock still in its antlers, has returned to the house a few times.