A playground in Estes Park, Colorado, has been closed indefinitely by Colorado Parks & Wildlife after a cow elk stomped on a child, the second such incident in the past week.

The first attack happened May 30. An unnamed 8-year-old girl was riding her bike at 1 p.m. when a mother elk charged, knocked her to the ground and stomped on her, state wildlife officials said. The cow elk was protecting a calf.

The girl was hospitalized and released the same day following treatment, officials said.

On Monday, an unnamed 4-year-old boy was at the playground at the same time that two elk calves, hidden from sight, were in a nearby rock area.

A cow elk charged the boy and stomped on him before one of the boy’s family members scared off the animal, CPW officials said in a release Tuesday.

“In both of these circumstances, the kids were not disturbing the calves. They probably didn’t know that the calves were even nearby, and the cow elk became aggressive toward the children. But luckily, in both of these cases, the kids are recovering well and seem to be fine,” CPW spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose told Denver CBS affiliate KCNC-TV.

In both cases, responding wildlife personnel hazed the cow elk with nonlethal bean bag rounds to deter their aggression and get them to leave.

The first attack happened May 30. An unnamed 8-year-old girl was riding her bike at 1 p.m. when a mother elk charged, knocked her to the ground and stomped on her, state wildlife officials said. The cow elk was protecting a calf.

The girl was hospitalized and released the same day following treatment, officials said.

On Monday, an unnamed 4-year-old boy was at the playground at the same time that two elk calves, hidden from sight, were in a nearby rock area.

A cow elk charged the boy and stomped on him before one of the boy’s family members scared off the animal, CPW officials said in a release Tuesday.

“In both of these circumstances, the kids were not disturbing the calves. They probably didn’t know that the calves were even nearby, and the cow elk became aggressive toward the children. But luckily, in both of these cases, the kids are recovering well and seem to be fine,” CPW spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose told Denver CBS affiliate KCNC-TV.

In both cases, responding wildlife personnel hazed the cow elk with nonlethal bean bag rounds to deter their aggression and get them to leave.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.