Hikers help rescue elk stuck in 30-foot abandoned mine shaft, CO video and photos show
A Colorado woman’s hike turned into a rescue for a 250-pound cow elk that was stuck in a mine shaft, wildlife officials say.
Chere Waters and a hiking partner went on a hike Saturday in upper Rio Grande Valley of Colorado, the state’s Parks and Wildlife said in a news release. She decided to go off-trail and ended up finding an old mine shaft.
“Her intuition led her to an old mine shaft which, in turn, led to an unusual rescue of a 250-pound cow elk by Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers and local emergency responders on April 18,” Parks and Wildlife said in a news release.
When Waters saw the hole, she tossed a rock in to see how deep it was, she told Parks and Wildlife.
“It’s the scariest thing, it’s at the edge of some trees so it’s hard to see,” she told wildlife officials. “So I looked in and saw this animal in there. I was so surprised, I couldn’t believe it.”
The hikers called officials, and about an hour later Wildlife Officers Brent Woodward and Jeremy Gallegos arrived, as well as Mineral County Sheriff’s officers, Parks and Wildlife said.
“When I got the call I was told that a deer was stuck in a hole,” Woodward said. “But they thought the shaft was only about 10 feet deep. When I got there I could see it was an elk and it was probably 30 feet down.”
The 250-pound cow elk was darted with a tranquilizer to temporarily knock it out while officials tried to save her from the mine shaft, Parks and Wildlife said.
Mineral County Emergency Search and Rescue Manager Terry Wetherill was lowered into the deep hole, which he said was about 10 feet by 3 feet, according to Parks and Wildlife.
The elk was pulled up slowly and was “pretty beat up,” Woodward said, according to Parks and Wildlife. The animal could have been trapped for up to two or three days, but the elk trotted away once she was rescued.
“It’s amazing that those ladies saw it,” Woodward said. “When she stood up, she moved a few yards, turned and looked at us for a few seconds and then turned and trotted away. It was great that we could get her out alive.”
Wetherill told Parks and Wildlife that he’s heard about many old mine shafts in the area, but he has never known an elk to fall in. The mine shaft that the elk fell into could have been there for more than 100 years, Wetherill told Parks and Wildlife.
“It’s dangerous,” Wetherill told Parks and Wildlife. “It’s in the shadows and until you’re 20 feet away you don’t see it.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Hikers help rescue elk stuck in 30-foot abandoned mine shaft, CO video and photos show."