TYRED AND EMOTIONAL ELK’S TWOYEAR ORDEAL

WASHINGTON: An elk that spent at least two years roaming the Colorado wilderness with a tyre around its neck is finally free of the encumbrance after wildlife officers removed it.

They had to cut off the sedated big buck’s five-point antlers because they could not saw through a band of steel in the tyre.

The 270kg elk had proven to be highly elusive over the past two years, despite several sightings. It was finally spotted and cornered by wildlife officers who were able to get in an effective shot with a tranquilliser dart.

The poor deer’s neck was in pretty good shape despite all that chafing.

“The hair was rubbed off a little bit, there was one small open wound maybe the size of a nickel or quarter, but other than that it looked really good,” said wildlife officer Scott Murdoch, one of the two men who removed the tyre.

The unfortunate animal was first seen with the tyre in July 2019 while a wildlife officer with a spotting scope was carrying out a census of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and mountain goats in an area called the Mount Evans Wilderness, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a statement.

At the time, the elk was probably two years old. The animal probably got its head stuck in the tyre either when it was very young, before it had antlers, or during the winter when it sheds its antlers, the statement said.

“Wildlife officers have seen deer, elk, moose, bears and other wildlife entangled in a number of man-made objects including hammocks, clothing lines, laundry baskets, volleyball nets … and, yes, car tyres,” it added.