Muskox gores Grise Fiord girl

AARON SPITZER

IQALUIT — A Grise Fiord girl who tossed rocks at a muskox was gored and stomped last week when the angry animal attacked her.

The girl, age 12, was treated at the community clinic and then sent to Baffin Regional Hospital in Iqaluit, where she received several stitches to close a gash on her buttock.

The attack happened Aug. 1 on the outskirts of Grise Fiord, where the animal — a lone, healthy male — had been living for much of the summer.

The muskox was lying down when the victim and another girl approached it and began hurling stones at its head. It rose quickly and ran at them, butting the victim with its horn and then stomping on her head with its hoof.

It then broke off the attack and the girls ran to a nearby house for help.

The muskox was shot after the local wildlife officer consulted with elders and hunters and decided it could pose a continued danger to residents.

Mike Ferguson, the regional biologist for the North Baffin, said the attack could have been much worse.

He said muskox attacks, though rare, are not unprecedented.

In Norway several years ago, a bicyclist was charged and killed by a muskox bull that was part of a herd introduced from North America.

In Nunavik in the late 1970s, a male muskox attacked and severely injured a photographer who was trying to take its picture, and in the early 1990s, a sports hunter who approached a muskox bull near Kugluktuk suffered a broken shoulder when the animal rammed him.

“Muskoxen are compact, they’ve got a lot of weight to them, and if they become aggressive they’re exceedingly dangerous,” Ferguson said.

“They’re very unpredictable. If they’re going to attack it could be from various distances, and there’s often very little warning.”

Male muskoxen get particularly mean and quick-tempered during the summer rutting season, when hormonal changes prepare them to compete with other males for a mate.

The Grise Fiord muskox was likely in its rutting phase.

The danger it posed was compounded by the fact that it had apparently lost its fear of humans.

The attack occurred only 150 metres from the nearest home, and the animal had been visited regularly during the summer by curious townspeople and tourists. It may even have been the same animal that spent last summer near the community.

The final factor in the attack was the harassment of the animal, Ferguson said.

The injured girl was apparently not the only child who had taunted the muskox that day. Earlier, another a group of youths had teased the animal, ignoring warnings from local elders that the creature could turn vicious.

“If you’re throwing rocks at any wild animal you’re taking your chances,” Ferguson said.

He said muskox experts suggest that anyone being charged by a muskox should crouch down to make themselves appear smaller and less threatening in an effort to avert the attack.