—”Sounds like somebody’s pet deer. Or escaped from a zoo.”
My wife worked for a government agency that dealt with such things.
The first thing they do is to call all known locals to check their herds.
An elk sighting in a local park, but none was reported missing so they sent a biologist, who found tracks and scat.
He said it is usually a male looking for love and will follow railroad tracks for hundreds of miles.
We are in northern Illinois and he was a LONG way from any elk range.
People have hunting properties stocked with weird stuff and sometimes they escape.
Saw a huge dead Elk on the interstate one day.
We don’t have Elk here….at least not anymore.