A 600-pound elk charged a family with young kids at the Grand Canyon, ultimately ramming into a man.
Jon Steingard posted about his family’s scary incident on social media, and a video of the attack attracted over 1.2 million views. Thankfully, everyone is OK.
“One of the craziest experiences of my life—being charged by a 600lb elk,” Steingard wrote in his Instagram post sharing the terrifying footage.
“My family and I were at the Grand Canyon, and walking back to our car, all of a sudden we saw an elk next to the parking area.
Within seconds it charged us. My family ran and I tried to scare it, protecting my family.”
Steingard explains that the elk paused but then charged at him directly. He managed to get away, but the animal did make contact with him, as you can see in the video. Steingard says he walked away with bruises.
“My family and I are ok—my daughter was incredibly upset—I bet that created a core memory for her, poor girl,” Steingard adds in his post.
“It was a super scary experience but I feel fortunate that no one was seriously hurt, including mama elk.”
Steingard speculates that the elk was a female protecting her young, even though they didn’t see any babies nearby. He also makes note that they were by the Grand Canyon’s visitor center when this happened, and they did not seek contact with the animal.
See footage of the elk that charged a family at the Grand Canyon here:
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This article by Bethanie H. was first published by Outdoors on 8 July 2025. Lead Image: Dmitry Taranets/Getty Images.
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