Fun with the Elk in Wyoming
February 23rd, 2008Here are a couple of videos from my latest excursion to deploy radio collars on elk wintering on feedgrounds in Wyoming (some reading about the feedgrounds can be found here and here).
In this first video I’m riding on the horse-drawn sleigh from which loads of hay are fed to elk everyday, all winter. From the sleigh, we were able to target elk for collaring and shoot them with a dart containing anesthesia.
This second video features Jared and Jen helping an elk get back on her feet as she wakes up from the anesthesia (she seemed to take a little longer to wake up than the other 4 animals that we captured that day). Brandon is sitting next to me on the sleigh and the feeder is the one standing on the sleigh. Brandon and Jared are both working for Wyoming Game and Fish, studying feedgrounds and their influence on brucellosis presence in elk.
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:32 pm
You read my mind . . . I was going to suggest some video like this.
Don’t these large animals get wise to your purpose. I’d had to run into one those big guys with the huge horns if he had a nasty disposition.
What is “brucellosis?”
I appreciate effort in getting all this posted.
Thanks Sara.
Your Dad . . . in Sunny Seattle.
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Glad you enjoyed the video. I was a little disappointed in the audio but the video captures the scene. I added a link to the Wikipedia entry for brucellosis to the post for your education.
It’s a good thing these guys are prey animals, they just want to get away from people. And we are only capturing the females so we don’t have to negotiate around those big antlers.