According to the father, his 14-year-old daughter who ‘mistakenly shot a protected animal’ was bullied by users online. The 14-year-old girl, Abby, reportedly shot the protected animal that she mistook for a different animal during a hunting trip with her father. The father and daughter were hunting legally.\u00a0The teen’s dad, Don, said he contacted the state Department of Conservation after inspecting the animal’s body.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abby’s dad said that his daughter shot a protected elk in error and has been subjected to abuse on social media.\u00a0According to the state officials, it\u2019s unusual that an elk would be in the area, which is roughly 200 miles from where a wild elk herd was reintroduced.\u00a0Until Don sent him a photo of evidence, conservation officer Adam was unconvinced that the elk existed.\u00a0\u201cThe dad sent me a photo to my phone and it was very clear that, yes, that\u2019s an elk,\u201d said Adam. \u201cYou don\u2019t expect to see something like that. I\u2019ve learned to never say never.\u201d\u00a0\u201cShe saw antlers, she saw the body. She thought it was a deer and took the shot,\u201d said the department\u2019s regional supervisor, Tom. \u201cThis young girl probably had never seen an elk in the wild before. The dad certainly did the right thing by immediately calling us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since their photo was shared on social media (SEE PHOTO)<\/a><\/strong>, Don said that his daughter has been the subject of online hate from internet forums.\u00a0A Facebook group said \u201cSTOP Trophy Hunting NOW\u201d posted about the story, saying, \u201cIdiots and their offspring with guns in the woods, don\u2019t even know what they are shooting at.\u201d\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t come at my daughter saying lock her away,\u201d argued Don. \u201cWow. If my daughter gets fined, I\u2019ll pay it and move on. So be it. We\u2019ll deal with it.\u201d The father also added that he hoped his family would be permitted to consume the animal\u2019s flesh and antlers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d make sure everybody around my family would have some of that,\u201d he said. He\u00a0was told that no parts of the elk will be returned to him or the family by personnel, according to reports. If the meat is found to be free of disease, it may be given to low-income families.\u00a0\u201cThe elk is a protected species. As there is no elk season, shooting it is illegal. Age or ignorance is not a defense for breaking the law. She made a mistake, there are consequences,\u201d said one social media user. \u201cThe fact the dad asked to get the trophies from this animal is just really in poor taste. Your daughter illegally shot a protected elk, no you do not get the trophies from an illegal action. She shouldn\u2019t go to jail but if there is a fine it is definitely justified.\u201d\u00a0\u201cShe\u2019s 14. She\u2019s learning still. Her dad did the right thing in calling immediately however,\u201d added another person. \u201cThe elk had no tag and they even said they didn\u2019t have any reports of elk in the area so it was odd to even see one out there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to the father, his 14-year-old daughter who ‘mistakenly shot a protected animal’ was bullied by users online.…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-trending","8":"cs-entry","9":"cs-video-wrap"},"yoast_head":"\n