“How you doin’?” (Photo property Baked Bermuda)
One of Whidbey Island’s most enduring residents is off to new adventures in the afterlife.
Bruiser, a massive elk who wandered The Rock largely alone for 14 years, popping up from here to there as his whims carried him, has died.
The news was reported Tuesday by the Island County Sheriff’s Department, who noted his “famously tangled antlers” and his place as a “treasured icon of our community.”
The press release hailed how Bruiser “shattered records for the lifespan of a wild elk.
“He will be deeply missed by all who were lucky enough to cross his path.”
Across social media, current and former residents called for Bruiser to be immortalized on the island he made his own after immigrating here from Skagit County.
Some called for him to be kept “alive” through the miracles of taxidermy and displayed in a local museum, while others would opt for a more permanent memorial.
“They should commission a statue of him and put it in Oak Harbor!” said longtime hiking writer Sarah Kirkconnell.
