ESTES PARK, CO (KDVR/CNN) – A Colorado police officer has been credited with saving a baby elk after he found the injured calf and took it to a veterinarian in spite of advice to euthanize it.
An Estes Park, CO, police officer found a 2-week-old male elk with a fractured leg just off the highway. If the creature was left alone in the wild, he likely would have died.
Feeling sorry for the injured calf, the officer contacted Colorado Parks and Wildlife for advice. Officials told the officer to euthanize the suffering animal.
Instead, the officer took the calf to local veterinarian Dr. Marie Cenac, who didn’t think twice about treating the wild animal.
“Kids and animals, I have a place in my heart that just aches for them,” Cenac said.
The baby’s leg was placed in a splint, and he is being force fed a nutritious formula every few hours.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say they empathize with the officer’s reaction and decision, but the elk should have been left in the wild and euthanized if suffering.
All parties agree that taking an animal from the wild and treating it falls in a gray area.
The calf will soon be taken to a wildlife veterinarian in Fort Collins, CO, for further treatment, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say.
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