Ear: Elk

An orphan elk calf who turned up at a ranch near Pacific City last March wound up being raised by some Angus beef cows, according to News Nation via their affiliate, KOIN.

The family who owned the ranch named the youngster Oddball.

“Oddball wasn’t here for the morning feeding on Dec. 13, and there was no sign of him,” a rancher helping take care of Oddball said. “Hunting season ended two weeks earlier, so he survived that. I looked around on two consecutive days and eventually found where a herd of elk moved through. I figured that he finally met his own kind and joined up with them”

He figured right. He spotted Oddball (who is easily identified with a broken antler) with the herd a few days later.

“We got used to seeing him every day, so it created a little void when he left,” the rancher confessed. “We are ultimately happy he finally joined his own type and got himself home. He’s now with a bunch of cow elk and animals he can talk to … ” (Photo: News Nation)