Rexburg, ID – A walrus gored a 67 year-old man and attempted to eat his 12 year-old granddaughter Tuesday, Idaho wildlife officials said.
“We’ve never seen a walrus with a collar before,” Idaho Wildlife agent Gary Wind told the Sasquatch Sun. “Heck, I’ve never even seen a walrus in Idaho before.”
Officials believe the walrus was recently set free by an unknown owner in or around Rexburg.
The man who was attacked, Clem Walters, said he saw the 2000-lb animal loping down S 2nd Street near Taco Time, wearing a bright yellow dog collar around its neck. The walrus at first seemed friendly as it nudged its nose gently into the man’s hand. However, after the man wouldn’t stop tickling the walrus’ blubbery skin and talking to it like a baby, it quickly grew agitated and gored the man’s left thigh with one of its 3-foot tusks. It then attempted to attack and eat the man’s granddaughter, Beatrice Flinn, but it could only scoot its massive weight at 1 mile per hour. “I just walked away,” said Flinn .
As deputies arrived on the scene, the walrus tried to attack one of the officers and they had to shoot and kill the massive animal. It took over over 300 bullets to bring down the walrus, with 297 of the bullets completely missing it. “Those things are big and I thought it would be easy to hit a target that large from 10 feet away,” said Deputy Markus Welch. “We obviously need to practice more.”
Walters is recuperating at his home after being released from the hospital. “I’m going to have some walrus steak tonight and mount those tusks over my fireplace,” he said.
“Everything we understand about this points toward this walrus being raised by people in our town,” said Wind. “The first evidence is the yellow collar, as I’m not aware of that occurring in the wild naturally. The second indication is that walruses don’t normally reside in Idaho. So putting two-and-two together, I believe this walrus was raised by humans.”
“Walruses aren’t pets. I thought most people knew that by now,” said Wind.
The investigation continues to find the person or persons who released the walrus.
