Huge Bull Elk With Enormous Antlers Gets Tangled in Fencing

Wildlife officials in Colorado have saved a huge bull elk whose enormous antlers became tangled in some fencing.

The elk was spotted Tuesday morning by members of the public in the middle of a busy intersection near Estes Park, a northern Colorado town often used as a base for exploring Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said in a statement.

The 415-square-mile park is home to a variety of wildlife, including elks, bighorn sheep, mule deer and bears, according to the National Park Service. More than 280,000 elk live in Colorado, according to CPW estimates, making the state's population the largest in the world.

After receiving reports about the stricken elk on Tuesday, CPW wildlife officers arrived on the scene at around 12:45 p.m. and found that the animal had about 30 feet of fencing tangled in its antlers.

CPW officers, with assistance from the Estes Park Police Department, then devised a plan to try to help the elk. First, police officers stopped traffic so the animal could be ushered away from the busy intersection.

A CPW officer shot the elk with a tranquilizer dart to render the animal unconscious. The rescue team then worked to remove the fencing from the antlers by cutting it off with tools. A video captured by one of the team shows this process.

Officials then administered a substance to the elk that reversed the effects of the sedative. After waking up, the elk ran back into its natural habitat, exhausted but seemingly unharmed. The animal is expected to make a full recovery from the incident, the CPW said.

The fencing that the elk's antlers became tangled in was initially put up to protect certain areas from elk damage.

"Land managers rope off areas to try to prevent elk from damaging them," said CPW district wildlife manager Clayton Brossart in a statement. "It is an aspect of the landscape and shows the intersection of humans and wildlife in our urban interface."

He continued: "We were grateful for the opportunity to free the elk of the fencing on its antlers and remove it from the dangerous intersection. We also want to thank the local residents who reported this to us immediately, so we were able to have a quick response and freed the elk without it sustaining any serious injury."

North American elk are among the largest members of the deer family. Large males can weigh several hundred pounds and stand 5 feet tall at the shoulder. Today, more than 1 million elk can be found across North America, primarily in the western half of the continent.

Only male elk grow antlers, which appear every year in the spring and fall off in the winter.

Newsweek has contacted CPW for further comment.