A hefty bull elk was found tangled between trees near Golden High School in Golden, Colorado, when wildlife officers were called to tranquillize the elk and carry out a potentially life-threatening rescue mission.
Public relations manager of Colorado Parks and Wildlife Jason Clay, 38, filmed the rescue at 8 a.m. on Jan. 11, after local resident Marie McHale Drake alerted the team to the distressed elk upon seeing its antlers tangled in rope tied to tree branches.
The elk, which weighed some 600 pounds, had around 50 yards of rope wound around its antlers and body, which restricted its movement.
Harrowing footage reveals how the incident and rescue unfolded:
Assisted by Golden Police Department’s Animal Management unit, the team moved in to deploy a tranquillizer dart to sedate the elk to protect both the animal and rescuers from injury.
“Once the sedation set in, the rope was cut off to free the animal of the entanglement,” Mr. Clay said. “Then a reversal agent was applied to wake the elk from the sedation.”
There was the possibility that the elk would have died without intervention from the heroic team; but it’s all in a day’s work for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
“Wildlife rescues are not possible in every situation, so it is nice when things come together to help save the animal,” added Mr. Clay.
The elk did not sustain any serious injuries and, aside from being exhausted from the morning’s stress, he is expected to make a full recovery.
