BILLY SHEILDS: What you see here is an elk.

It's not in a zoo.

Or it Maymont Park.

It's an elk on a military base just 11 minutes from downtown Richmond.

EARL COLEMAN: I came here and the supervisor said, “Well, we have to go take care of him.

[Ill] show you how to take care of our pets.” Im like, Im like, “What pets?” “We have elk, and we got to feed.” “Feeding elk?” I thought he was joking, but I found out it was true, you know.

BILLY SHIELDS: Our story begins in 1887, when a Canadian named James Bellwood buys a farm in Chesterfield County.

JIMMY PARRISH: You know, being from Canada and missing and missing his elk, he did go out west and brought back a mating pair.

BILLY SHIELDS: And Bellwoods pair kept reproducing to the point the farm became an attraction for Richmonders during the streetcar days.

JIMMY PARRISH: And folks would come from the north and the South to come to the Bellwood Plantation, or Bellwood Farms, and picnic and — which Mr.

Bellwood let them do, and they'd watch the elk.

BILLY SHIELDS: Parrish explains that on the eve of the Second World War, the War Department needed a logistics hub.

Bellwood was long gone by then, so officials approached his son, Frank.

JIMMY PARRISH: Well, the son, [I] believe it was Frank, responded back, “Sure.

We'll sell you this property under one condition and — one primary condition.” And that was that the War Department promised to take care of the elk forever.

BILLY SHIELDS: This herd of about two dozen elk is the only Defense Department facility in the country with permits to exhibit wildlife.

It's now used as a clearinghouse for all kinds of military supplies and isn't attached to a particular branch.

These are all the ladies.

Yeah, and we separate them primarily to keep the — keep mother nature down or to keep the population down.

BILLY SHIELDS: And there are different hierarchies.

Cows eat their meals eldest first.

The bulls have a pecking order, too.

EARL COLEMAN: The dominant male has been knocked off the throne.

There's another one that's in charge now.

The current dominant bull is called Squiggly because his antlers grew in crooked.

In an effort to prevent the herd from getting unmanageably large, the bulls are allowed to enforce this hierarchy with bloody results.

JIMMY PARRISH: And when Squiggly would fight, he didn't want to fight the elk a second time, so he would actually, I can remember at least three elk that he put down, just over his show of dominance.

BILLY SHIELDS: And it's not just the elk that face danger.

EARL COLEMAN: Well, its kind of dangerous for us, too because, you know, when theyre dropping their antlers we have to go in and get them.

And they don't care for that much either.

And they won't run from a truck, you know, front end loader or nothing.

BILLY SHIELDS: The Confederacy planned its defense of Petersburg on this site before Bellwood bought it.

So there are tales of the supernatural roaming this place, too.

JIMMY PARRISH: It doesn't surprise me that folks would claim that they've seen some things.

BILLY SHIELDS: I didn't wait around to see any ghosts.

I was more impressed with the majestic herd of elk, which the public can still view.

Billy Shields, VPM News.