Teddy the Killer Elk

According to the Elks Lodge No. 944 of Ashland, the story of how they acquired Teddy, a seven-point stuffed elk, is linked to Lithia Park.

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An article from Jan. 10, 1936 in the Tidings reports that Teddy was born in Lithia Park in 1922. He was kept in a pen in the zoo at the upper end of the park. As Teddy approached old age it was decided he should live out his remaining days in the wild. He was taken to Ashland Gap and released. But according to an old lodge bulletin, he kept returning to his pen in the park.

According to the bulletin, Teddy was given back to the Elks club because he had charged a zoo keeper, Rolland Jordan, and inflicted injuries that led to the man's death. The elk was taken to the old slaughterhouse on Oak Street and humanely shot. Petersen's market in Ashland butchered him and he was stuffed by Cummings Fir Shop in Klamath Falls.

Since his death, Teddy has been exhibited in the Ashland Elks lodge. He withstood the 1968 fire and was the centerpiece of the Ashland Elks float in the Fourth of July parade of 1978.