Elk discovered with tire around its neck in Colorado

When humans get a spare tire around the middle, it’s a fairly common occurrence—certainly much more common than when an elk gets a spare tire around its neck. But we’ll say this: An elk with a spare tire around its neck is much funnier. True story. An elk in Morrison, Colorado, is running about town carrying a little extra weight around its neck as if it were a necklace. One resident called it “a little bit of bling.” Denver’s ABC affiliate KMGH has the unusual and humorous story:

Wildlife officials say the elk—nicknamed The Tired Elk by residents–can do everything it needs to do, such as eat, breathe and run. They don’t want to tranquilize the animal to remove the tire because they fear the elk is pregnant. Tranquilizing the animal can be traumatic and could do harm to the calf.

This isn’t the first time an elk has ended up wearing an unwanted accessory. An elk lived six years with the ring of a dog’s feeding dish around its neck. There was an elk four years ago that somehow got a bar stool stuck on its head. A bar stool?

According to a CNN report, elementary students were tasked with coming up with an explanation. One student suggested the elk had too much to drink at a local bar, fell off its stool and somehow got the stool stuck on its head.

So, how did this elk manage to get a tire around its neck?

One woman suggested that some kids did it as a prank, but her husband dismissed the idea because they wouldn’t dare get that close to the wild animal. But is there a better explanation? Hmmm.

A night of drinking, maybe?