Elk NetworkElk Rescued from Icy Fate in Two States

General | March 3, 2023

It wasn’t exactly what they signed up for. Or was it?

After all, the mission statement its members live by is to “protect life, property, and the environment through prevention, preparedness, education and emergency response.” That includes wildlife too, right?

Colorado’s Evergreen Fire and Rescue unit received a call about a cow elk that broke through the ice on a pond and could not get back out. Two rescue workers used a chainsaw to enlarge the hole and then worked together by grabbing one front leg each and eventually pulled it out. A little shaky, the elk stood up and eventually wandered off.

Evergreen is a small mountain community about 30 miles west of Denver. Go here to watch video of the rescue.

Approximately 450 miles to the northwest near La Barge, Wyoming, two men came across an elk calf that appeared helpless on a frigid, remote icy patch.

“It was -14°F out and we didn’t want it to die out there,” they wrote in a video post. “The elk was exhausted after the event, but we found that it left on its own accord when we returned later.”

(Photo source: Evergreen Fire/Rescue)