How Parks Canada saved this elk (and others) from icy waters

Rescuing elk from Alberta's freezing waters has been afrequent job for wildlife officers this year and about half the animals were saved; the rest died from injuries.

Last Friday, Parks Canada saved an elkafter it had fallen through thin ice on the Bow River, right beside theBow View Lodge in Banff, Alta.

Blair Fyten, a resource management officer for Parks Canada, has been a part of several elk rescue missions especially this year.

WATCH| See how Parks Canada rescues an elk after it falls through the ice on the Bow River in the video above

"This year, it seemed to be extremely bad. In the last couple of weeks, we dealt with nine elk in the river," he said, adding that since January, there have been 10 elk found struggling in icy waters.

Also known asthe wapiti, the elk is a member of the deer family and is one of the largest land mammals in North America. A malecan weigh over 700 pounds (317 kg).

In most years, only one or two elk need to be rescued. But whenthere arespikes, it's usually because ofwhere the elk are located at the time, the officer says.

Fyten says most of the falls happen on a section of the Bow Riverin downtown Banff. The animalstend to cross the river both by walking or swimming sothey can journey throughthe town at night.

"They're trying to come into town in the evenings when things have quieted down andto graze on the lawn at (Banff) Central Park and in people's yards," he said.

"There's great habitat on either side of the river, so they're crossing back and forth constantly."

But the animals don't always know that the ice is too thin to walk on, saysFyten, andofficers can't tell whether elk even giveit much thought.

"We had a staff member kind of observesome elk a few days back that were crossing and she thought, you know, one was kind of testing the ice and was hesitant to go across, yet some other members had crossed in front of her," he said.

If the elk does break through the ice, Fyten says it's usually in a deep spot of the lake or river where they can't touch down.

"Basically, they're just sitting there swimming until either they get rescued or they drown," he said.

He says sometimesanimals will fall through during the night and that officers won't knowuntil someone reports a carcass in the river.

"Elk could fall through the river, you know, half a kilometreout of townsomewhere farther to the west. And we might not even find out about it until we get a report of a carcass floating down the river in the springtime," he said.

Of the 10 elk found struggling in the water in 2021, five of them died, Fyten says.

How officers save the elk

The wildlife officerexplains that removing the animal from waters usually takes aroundtwo hours.

"It really depends how much work you need to do to get that elk onthe ice. The process generally involves cutting a channel back toward shore so that we get onto solid ice."

The team members will use chainsaws and other equipment to start cutting thethick slabs of ice. It alsousually requires some of them getting into the freezing water.

"I broke through myself several times, but we are in drysuits and have flotation vests on," he said.

After the ice is cut and the channel is cleared out, officers try to get the elk closer to shore.

"If they can't jump up onto the shore at that point in time and most of these elk haven't been able to because they're just too weakwe've had to put straps underneath them and just haul them up onto the ice with manpower," hesaid.

But the job doesn't stop there. Fyten says a lot of these elk are still too weak to stand and sometimes need four hours toget their circulation going again.

"They're just too cold and legs are too weak, sowe go through a warming process with them where we get them covered up with blankets and off the ice," he said.

He adds that if youever happen to see elk fall through the ice, you should never go intothe waterto help.

Instead, call the Parks Canada office at403-762-1470.

"If people don't have their proper gear and stuff like that, they're just going to find themselves in trouble. We'll respond to the incident with proper gear and equipment to extract the elk," he said.

However, since the last rescue mission on April2, Fyten says the ice in the area has melted away, allowingthe elk to swim across the riverwithout getting stuck.