Elk falls into ditch and gets wedged upside down, photo shows. See how rescuers help
An elk fell into a narrow ditch and was wedged upside down in Arizona, photos show.
The large animal was trapped on its back at the bottom between the tall walls of the trench with all four legs wedged against the wall, a photo shows. Its head and antlers just barely fit in the narrow space and its muzzle brushes against the side of the wall.
“That ditch looks like a death trap,” someone commented under the Arizona Game & Fish Department’s Facebook post about the trapped elk.
A wildlife manager with the department “quickly hatched a plan” that involved equipment from a construction site nearby, the agency said on Facebook Wednesday, Feb. 5.
He chemically immobilized the elk before the tricky rescue. Then he hooked it up to an excavator using vehicle tow straps around its antlers, legs and body and pulled the animal from the ditch.
A photo shows the elk facing right side up being lifted from the ditch head and hooves first.
“He checked the animal, then reversed the immobilizing drug and watched as the elk ran off!” officials said. “Thanks to (his) quick thinking and skill, this elk got a second chance!”
Several people thanked him for his “wonderful work” saving the elk that otherwise would have had “an agonizing death.”
Some also joked that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would visit the work site to investigate the use of the construction equipment and the gaping trench left uncovered.
“So whose slow thinking and lack of skill left a vertical trench uncovered in the first place?” someone asked.
Another person pointed out that a child could have fallen in.
“I would need an excavator to get out of that ditch too,” someone joked.
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Elk falls into ditch and gets wedged upside down, photo shows. See how rescuers help."
