Recent video published by 9News and credited to Shira Moffat captures an adorable scene of an elk ‘playing soccer’ with children in Evergreen.

As the children throw the ball up on a hillside toward the elk, the elk rolls the ball back down toward the children.

While this is a cute animal interaction, it should come with a note of caution. Any wild animal can be unpredictable and potentially dangerous when an interaction with a human takes place. Interacting with wild animals in a civilized area can also make animals more prone to be present in these areas, which can lead to a number of concerns, including the potential for an increased risk of being involved in an automobile accident.

Obviously, it’s impossible to avoid wildlife in Colorado and wildlife is something that should be enjoyed by local residents – but always from a safe distance and always with no interaction.

On that note, it’s also worth noting that in this specific situation, 9News reports that a Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson said the children were keeping a safe distance from the animal and that because they weren’t throwing the ball directly at the animal, it wasn’t harassment.

Watch the video below: