Elk calf in trouble rescued from Evergreen Lake in Colorado
It was a drama along the lake shore at Evergreen Lake Monday just before sunset, as people watched a young elk calf caught in a buoy line struggle.
Meghan Dondzila was at the lake with her mother, who was in town to visit, to look at the wildlife when she noticed the mother elk and calf in the water.
"Then I was like, 'Wait, where did the calf go?'" Dondzila told CBS Colorado
They were by a section of Evergreen Lake where there are paths closed at this time of year, as the elk nurture their young. In the water, there are buoys to keep paddlers from going toward a shallow area of the outlet of Bear Creek where the elk congregate.
When Dondzila and her mother saw the calf struggling, they drove around to the lake house where there was a wedding party. Soon, people involved with the wedding party were watching and wanting to take action. Dondzila and her mother made calls for help, but at 8 p.m. at night, there is no one to reach that can be dispatched quickly enough to save a calf from drowning.
"I'm like checking to see if any of the boats are unlocked. Of course, they're locked because it's closed," Dondzila said of the lake's boat house.
One of the wedding guests was determined to go after the calf to rescue it.
"But then there's a guy over here saying like, 'Are you going to save it?' And I was like, 'I don't think I can!'" Dondzila explained.
The guest found an Evergreen Park & Recreation District worker who was there to help with the wedding. Normally, the rec district workers give the elk space and don't engage with wild animals, leaving it to Colorado Parks and Wildlife workers and park rangers. They encourage people to do the same. As the drama unfolded, it was clear there was no time for any other help to arrive. The elk's distress did not appear to be caused by nature.
"I grabbed a paddle and a life jacket and a canoe to see what the deal was," Steve "Gus" Kolbach told CBS Colorado.
Kolback paddled over to the elk as the mother moved back on shore. He was able to lift the calf from the water where a buoy line had wrapped around its leg.
"All of a sudden, we're just like, 'Oh my God, he has the calf in the boat with him!'" Dondzila recalled. "And you got the whole crew of wedding people just clapping and cheering for Gus."
"Obviously, I was happy when I got to her that she was breathing," Kolbach explained. "So that was the important thing when I could feel her pulse and stuff like that panicking. She didn't give me any trouble. She was pooped."
He placed the calf on shore, then thought it might be too close to the water and would go back in. So Kolbach moved the exhausted young Elk farther onto the island the elk frequent along the lake.
"I was waving my hands so the mother could see, try to get her pointed to her child, and she kind of followed my instructions which surprised me," Kolbach said.
People watched as the mother approached the calf and starting licking it. It wasn't moving much as the sun set. The next morning, there were only healthy calves bouncing around on the lake islands where the elk spend their time. It seemed like a job well done.
"Happy ending hopefully as far as we know," Dondzila said.
"Had to go into action," Kolbach said. "We had all the tools we needed to help that critter, and fortunately I saw a little video of the mom finally reuniting with her child, so that was cool."
