An elk roaming the streets of the southern Swedish town of Helsingborg broke into a house and made himself at home but had to be put down later because of the severity of the injuries he sustained when breaking in.
The beast was seen wandering around a residential area of the town on Monday morning. It later jumped through a window of a house, setting off the burglar alarm. The family who owned the house were on holiday at the time of the break-in.
Police arrived on the scene shortly after and found the elk in the living room. As the animal was badly injured and viewed as dangerous, a hunter was called in to put it down. A police spokesman said they had to put the elk down because it was badly hurt and they can become aggressive when injured or stressed. Aside from the elk, there were no other injuries, and the animal’s body was later collected by an animal ambulance.
Stories of elks walking around urban centres in Sweden are not uncommon. In June, an elk forced children to flee a classroom after it broke through a window. There have also been stories of elks being found swimming in swimming pools and one elk even wandered into a retirement home in Alingsas in 2011.