Wildlife officials in Colorado say an elusive elk wore a vehicle tire around the neck. He was wandering the hills for at least two years with it and is finally free of it.
According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, they spotted the 4 1/2-year-old, 600-pound (270-kilogram) bull elk in Pine Junction, southwest of Denver; on Saturday evening and tranquilized it. They couldn’t cut through the steel in the tire’s bead. So, the officers from the agency had to cut off the elk’s five-point antlers to remove the encumbrance.
“We would have preferred to cut the tire and leave the antlers for his rutting activity. But the situation was dynamic and we had to just get the tire off in any way possible,” officer Scott Murdoch said.
They removed the tire, antlers, and debris within the tire. Murdoch and colleague officer Dawson Swanson believed the elk lost around 35 pounds (16 kilograms).
Wildlife officers first noticed the elk with the tire around its neck in 2019 July. It was during a population assessment for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and mountain goats in the Mount Evans Wilderness.
Swing sets, hammocks, clotheslines, decorative or holiday lighting, furniture, tomato cages, chicken feeders, laundry baskets, soccer goals, and also volleyball nets, they add. They have all become entangled in deer, elk, moose, bears, and other species.
