People had reported seeing a bull elk with a tire around it neck to the Colorado Parks & Wildlife department for at least two years, but wildlife officers could never find the elk after a call. Until last week. Following a call, wildlife officers found the victim among a herd of 40 or so elk. But it took four attempts over a week's time to tranquilize the elk with a dart gun. When the herd moved on, officers Dawson Swanson and Scott Murdoch moved in to remove the tire. The young elk had grown since becoming trapped the tire, so it was a tight fit. The tire was steel-belted, so they couldn't just cut it off. They had to remove the elk's antlers to slip the tire over its head.
Swanson and Murdoch estimated that the bull elk dropped roughly 35 pounds between the removal of the tire, his antlers and the debris that was inside the tire.
“The tire was full of wet pine needles and dirt,” Murdoch said. “So the pine needles, dirt and other debris basically filled the entire bottom half of the tire. There was probably 10 pounds of debris in the tire.”
The elk's neck was in remarkably good shape, considering the weight he'd been carrying. However, if he had grown for another year or two, the tire could have proven fatal. His antlers will grow back next year. Read the entire story, and see more pictures, at Colorado Parks & Wildlife. -via Boing Boing
(Image credit: Dan Jaynes)
#elk #tire #animalrescue