The Fall of Big Boy

News traveled fast. CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS…affiliates with any conceivable combination of initialism picked up the story. From local papers to Croatian newscasters. Shortly following the creation of the “Justice for Big Boy the Boulder Elk” Facebook page, there was an eruption of denizen outcry. At a vigil, residents shared their memories of the winsome wapiti, placing photos of Big Boy rambling through Mapleton Hill on a memorial.

“Not only did we think of this elk as our friend,” said one man to a crowd of heart wrenched tears, “But I think he felt we were his friends.”

Sometime between the circulation of “No Hunting in Our ’Hood” bumper stickers and Big Boy T-shirts, local musician Jonathan Bennett composed a country ode aptly titled “Reason to Kill (Ballad of Big Boy).” One meter goes: Gunned down for nothing but his sovereign space, / Wrong time, wrong place. The song addresses the “majestic grace” and mysticism of the creature.

Others, meanwhile, questioned it all. In a TV news segment covering the silent march, one resident said the response seemed “a bit overboard”; while a commenter on Westword’s blog wrote: “If we had half the concern for loss of HUMAN life as we do animal life in this world, we’d be 50 percent less shitty.”

While reaction from animal rights groups, hunting groups and neighbors were passionate and loud (elk bugle wails included), a sizable chunk of it focused on how mismanaged the officers were. But given the DA’s swiftness to prosecute—and all notions of police corruption aside—you’ll see that the brazen act was stupefyingly stupid. For example, here’s a snippet of the text exchange on Jan. 1, leading toward the suburban poaching:

4:14 am, Officer Carter to Officer Curnow – “Should I go hunting?”

6:14 am, Officer George to Carter – “Did you shoot him?”

2:45 pm, Curnow to Carter – “You should have killed it.”

One of the alleged conspirators, Curnow, operated a taxidermy business up until recently. Consider exhibit B, another series of texts:

11:44 pm, Curnow to Carter – “Get him.”

11:45 pm, Carter to Curnow – “Too many people right now. Start heading this way. 9/Mapleton.”

11:54 pm, Curnow to Carter – “You gonna be able to help butcher it? Or are you gonna go home sick?”

“It was like, ‘What were you thinking?!’ on steroids,” says community activist Rita Anderson, remarking on the degree the officers operated on. Near the time of this story’s publication, Jeff George is currently under investigation and has not been placed on leave. The two officers more directly involved, repeatedly chastised by Chief Beckner, will have been formally charged with nearly a dozen felonies and misdemeanors. After their trial, likely around the incident’s anniversary, it could mean their badges as well as prison time. As things wind down, the focal point for Anderson becomes about what was lost: a walking surprise peering through your kitchen window. She speaks on Big Boy’s geniality: “People got so close, they were able to smell the elk.” As a representative of the organization In Defense of Animals, Anderson has already raised $3,000 for a permanent Big Boy memorial.

For now, there’s a scant memento left dangling by balloon ribbons from the crab apple tree branches on Ninth and Mapleton. A message in one card seems as though penned by a child with the salutation, “Dear Old Mr. Elk…

“It was a wonderful treat to see you in the yard or down in the creek bottom. You were so beautiful and brought such joy and wonder to us. I will be sad walking in (Sunshine) Canyon knowing that I won’t see you again.”

Then the weathered note ends with remembrance and a thank you.