LAKE CITY, Colo. — Conservationists and several climbers rescued a bull moose by lowering it from a cliff after the animal became entangled in a rope at a popular ice climbing area in southwestern Colorado.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said a group of ice climbers in Lake City the distressed moose On Friday morning, a CPW biologist shot the ungulate with a tranquilizer and covered part of its head with a balaclava to protect its eyes during the rescue.
The team cut the rope away from the moose’s antlers, but needed a way to get the 700-pound (318-kilogram) animal down the climbing wall.
That’s when the ice climbers who reported the stranded moose came to the rescue, helping state wildlife officials rig a system that used two ropes — one under its chest and another along its antlers — to transport it to the base of the lower route. Once the moose was on flatter ground, the CPW team reversed the effects of the sedative, and about twelve minutes later the moose woke up and ran into the snowy canyon.
“If we reverse that sedative drug, it may take several minutes before the animal can regain full use of its body. Sometimes they get up quickly but are still dizzy on their feet, or sometimes it takes a few tries before they get up completely,” said John Livingston, a spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
He said the 2.5-year-old moose was trapped the previous night and was discovered at dawn, tired and with a few minor abrasions from its attempt to break free. It took more than two hours to free the unfortunate animal.
In moose, the cumbersome antlers sometimes become entangled in man-made hazards such as clotheslines, fencing and hammocks.