( CNN ) -- An elk 's close encounter with a photographer prompted Great Smoky Mountains Park officials to euthanize the animal . The video of the young bull elk nudging and head-butting James York , who was sitting on a North Carolina roadside , spread quickly through Facebook , Twitter and YouTube last week . While most people saw a fascinating exchange between human and beast , wildlife biologists saw danger . `` By initiating physical contact with a visitor , the elk displayed an unacceptable risk to human safety , '' a park statement released Monday said . Humans visiting the Cataloochee area of the national park had apparently been feeding the young bull elk , which then `` lost his instinctive fear of humans , '' officials said . `` After becoming food conditioned , the elk did not respond to any attempts to keep it out of the area and away from humans , '' they said . `` When wildlife exhibits this behavior it often escalates to more aggressive behavior creating a dangerous situation for visitors . '' The animal had a history of `` approaching visitors seeking handouts , '' they said . Wildlife biologists `` made the difficult decision to euthanize an elk '' last Friday . Park officials knew of this elk 's familiarity with humans before the video racked up millions of views online . `` Between September and last week , park biologists aggressively hazed this elk 28 times to discourage it from approaching the road and visitors , '' they said . `` They captured , sedated , tagged , and re-released it on site . '' `` The behavior that it learned from park visitors who had given it food had been too strongly ingrained , '' making it unlikely the elk would change his offensive ways , they said . York , who hunched over and and remained still through much of the encounter , was not injured , but `` if the animal had approached a child instead of an adult , the outcome for the visitor could have been very different , '' park officials said . This elk was the first euthanized in the park since the animals were reintroduced there by park officials 13 years ago , the release said . Elk once were populous in the area but were gone from the region by the mid-1800s due to over-hunting and loss of habitat , according to the national park 's website . CNN 's John Branch contributed to this report .
Video of elk nudging James has spread quickly through Facebook and Twitter . Elk ` ` displayed an unacceptable risk to human safety , '' national park officials say . Biologists ` ` aggressively tested '' ' 28 times in recent months without success . Animal had a history of ` ` to visitors seeking handouts ''