3
30buck
Guest
I haven't seen this before so i thought I'd post it. It's my first post so i hope it's not something that's been around and around. Sorry if you've already seen it this is the first one I have seen that both animals lived.
STORY
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- It's not all checking hunting and fishing licenses.
Sometimes the issues are bigger. Like when a Nevada game warden was
handed
the chore of figuring out how to separate two bull elk who locked horns
while sparring and couldn't untangle them.
The saga began Nov. 21 when a rancher in Reese River Valley
spotted the two elk.
By the following day, the animals were gone and the rancher assumed they
had
separated.
A week later, according to Nevada Division of Wildlife biologist Tom
Donham,
the rancher was out looking for some of his cows and saw the elk again.
This time, he called the wildlife department and Donham, game warden
Brian
Eller and Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist Bryson Code
headed
out to see what they could do.
When they reached Indian Valley, south of Austin, it was Nov. 29, one
week
after the elk were first seen.
"When we arrived where the rancher had last seen them, we found them
pretty
quickly. They were both lying on the ground and one of them was in a
very
uncomfortable looking position with his head directly above the others
head
and his nose pointing straight up to the sky," Donham said. Eller said
he
wondered if they had survived their ordeal.
"Once we found out they were alive, I was hoping they couldn't move and
would stay where they were. That didn't happen. When they ran off, I was
hoping that they could not go very far. That didn't happen either," he
said.
The elk may have been sparring at the outset, but Donham and Eller say
they
used teamwork to run for nearly a mile to evade the newcomers. "It
looked
like they had been doing it all their lives; serious cooperation if I've
ever seen it," Donham said.
After two unsuccessful attempts, Donham was able to get a tranquilizer
dart
into one of the elk. With one down, the other could not run, but was
also
partially tranquilized in order to separate the two.
Eller and Code helped hold the elk down while Donham used a hand saw to
remove part of an antler off one of them.
"As soon as they were apart, the bull that hadn't gotten a full dose
jumped
to his feet and Bryson, Brian and I quickly gave him all the room he
wanted.
He went off about 30 yards and lay down for about 10 minutes before
finally
walking up the hill and over the ridge, none the worse for wear" Donham
said.
The other elk was treated with antibiotics and eventually walked off as
well
after the tranquilizer had worn off.
"If these two bulls had not been discovered, and we never got the call,
they
more than likely would have both died. Watching the bulls walk away, and
knowing that we likely saved them from a slow death was definitely one
of
those moments that makes this job rewarding."
STORY
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- It's not all checking hunting and fishing licenses.
Sometimes the issues are bigger. Like when a Nevada game warden was
handed
the chore of figuring out how to separate two bull elk who locked horns
while sparring and couldn't untangle them.
The saga began Nov. 21 when a rancher in Reese River Valley
spotted the two elk.
By the following day, the animals were gone and the rancher assumed they
had
separated.
A week later, according to Nevada Division of Wildlife biologist Tom
Donham,
the rancher was out looking for some of his cows and saw the elk again.
This time, he called the wildlife department and Donham, game warden
Brian
Eller and Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist Bryson Code
headed
out to see what they could do.
When they reached Indian Valley, south of Austin, it was Nov. 29, one
week
after the elk were first seen.
"When we arrived where the rancher had last seen them, we found them
pretty
quickly. They were both lying on the ground and one of them was in a
very
uncomfortable looking position with his head directly above the others
head
and his nose pointing straight up to the sky," Donham said. Eller said
he
wondered if they had survived their ordeal.
"Once we found out they were alive, I was hoping they couldn't move and
would stay where they were. That didn't happen. When they ran off, I was
hoping that they could not go very far. That didn't happen either," he
said.
The elk may have been sparring at the outset, but Donham and Eller say
they
used teamwork to run for nearly a mile to evade the newcomers. "It
looked
like they had been doing it all their lives; serious cooperation if I've
ever seen it," Donham said.
After two unsuccessful attempts, Donham was able to get a tranquilizer
dart
into one of the elk. With one down, the other could not run, but was
also
partially tranquilized in order to separate the two.
Eller and Code helped hold the elk down while Donham used a hand saw to
remove part of an antler off one of them.
"As soon as they were apart, the bull that hadn't gotten a full dose
jumped
to his feet and Bryson, Brian and I quickly gave him all the room he
wanted.
He went off about 30 yards and lay down for about 10 minutes before
finally
walking up the hill and over the ridge, none the worse for wear" Donham
said.
The other elk was treated with antibiotics and eventually walked off as
well
after the tranquilizer had worn off.
"If these two bulls had not been discovered, and we never got the call,
they
more than likely would have both died. Watching the bulls walk away, and
knowing that we likely saved them from a slow death was definitely one
of
those moments that makes this job rewarding."
