Young elk stuck in mud couldn’t be pulled out by the antlers. Then came the four-wheeler
A young bull elk got stuck in mud up to its neck in Colorado, and the photos of the rescue are harrowing.
They show the elk, covered antlers to hooves in a thick layer of dark mud, as he wades in the pool of mud near La Garita on Dec. 5. La Garita is near a volcanic field in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado.
Despite his small size, the young elk was too heavy for wildlife officers to pull out by hand, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said on Twitter.
When they’re fully grown, bull elks weigh around 700 pounds, according to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. They grow to be 8 feet long from nose to tail, the foundation says.
After failing to pull him out by the antlers, officers with Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s southwest region opted to pull him out with a four-wheeler.
They secured ratchet straps to the base of his antlers and hooked them onto the back of the ATV.
“After a few attempts and readjusting, they were able to successfully rescue the elk!” officials wrote on Twitter. “Good luck out there, young bull!”
This story was originally published December 14, 2022 at 2:37 PM with the headline "Young elk stuck in mud couldn’t be pulled out by the antlers. Then came the four-wheeler."
