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AN ELK LEAPED into a research helicopter that was trying to capture it and brought down the helicopter in a collision that also killed the elk, authorities said yesterday.
The elk jumped into the chopper’s tail rotor as the aircraft flew about 10 feet above ground in a mountainous part of eastern Utah, with its crew trying to drop a net on it, said Jared Rigby of the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office.
The two people on board weren’t seriously hurt, but the elk died of its injuries Monday afternoon.
The state-contracted Texas-based crew was trying to capture and sedate the elk and give it a tracking collar to research its movements in the area about 90 miles (145 kilometres) east of Salt Lake City.
Helicopters are a frequently used and essential tool for monitoring remote wildlife in Utah, said Mark Hadley with the state Division of Wildlife Resources.
The tracking collars help wildlife officials monitor elk migration paths and survival rates.
The state captures about 1,300 animals each winter, almost all using helicopters, and yesterday’s downing of the helicopter was the first accident of its kind, he said.
The crew had launched a net to catch the animal, but when that didn’t immediately work the pilot started to slow down so someone could jump out and hobble the elk, Hadley said.
As the helicopter slowed down, the elk collided with the rotor, Hadley said.
The helicopter was damaged on its tail rotor, right skid and underside, Rigsby said.
State officials will review the incident that appears to have been a fluke accident, Hadley said.
Environmental groups have protested the use of helicopters to monitor wildlife.
The group Wilderness Watch is objecting to a plan to study mountain goats using helicopters in a central-Utah wilderness area, calling the aircraft “unnecessary intrusion into some of our most treasured lands,” according to the Deseret News.
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I presume the elk & safety authority will be investigating the incident….
@Mick Stafford: flipping elk !
It’s going to be alot easier to track it’s movements now anyway.
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: Very dark.
Get to da chopper !!!
@Dr Rex Butts: why did I read that in a arnold schwarzeneggar voice haha
@dick dastardly: probably because it’s a line Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a film.
@Dr Rex Butts: “He’s dug in like an Alabama tick”
Oh Deer!
Comments closed on the 2 fine upstanding members of society. #protecttheculture
The names say all that is needed probably.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: comments are always closed after charges are brought
as headlines go that is up here with the best of them!!!!
Major fail lol
Elk me make it through the night
Two hunters got a pilot to fly them into the far north for elk hunting. They were quite successful in their venture and bagged six big bucks. The pilot came back, as arranged, to pick them up. They started loading their gear into the plane, including the six elk. But the pilot objected and he said, “The plane can only take four of your elk; you will have to leave two behind.” They argued with him; the year before they had shot six and the pilot had allowed them to put all aboard. The plane was the same model and capacity. Reluctantly, the pilot finally permitted them to put all six aboard. But when the attempted to take off and leave the valley, the little plane could not make it and they crashed into the wilderness. Climbing out of the wreckage, one hunter said to the other, “Do you know where we are?” “I think so,” replied the other hunter. I think this is about the same place where we landed last year!”
What a bunch of idiots. Helicopters should not be used to monitor wildlife.
@Simon Haden: yeah they should be using skateboards to cover thousands of square miles of mountainous terrain.
@Gavrilo Princip: you were worse to ask him!
@Minom Pnnomm:
Genius riposte!
@Minom Pnnomm: I am from Holland, I would recommend mountain bikes ……
@Rudy de Groot: you suggest chasing an elk, with a net, across that kind of terrain on a mountain bike? Maybe Ireland shouldn’t legalise the good stuff..
@Pat Bateman:
Pity the helicopter couldn’t fly over the elk’s head as well as that joke cleared yours.
@Minom Pnnomm: or elkopters…
Kamikaze Elk
Ban helicopters – obvious long-term answer to this crisis !
Dave and Bo went elk hunting every year. The forest was so thick that they had to hire a helicopter to take them in and out. At the hunt’s end, Dave and Bo called up the helicopter to come and get them and the six elks they had shot. On arrival, the helicopter pilot looked over the catch. “I can only carry half of your catch,” he said. “Six elk would be too heavy for the helicopter.”
“Last year the helicopter carried six elk,” replied Dave. “And it was the same type of helicopter as yours and the weather conditions were exactly the same.”
The pilot succumbed to persuasion and took aboard the hunters and their six elk. The helicopter could not gain height and skimmed along the tops of the trees for a mile or so, and then crashed. Fortunately no-one was hurt. “Do you know where we are?” asked Bo.
“Yes,” replied Dave, “about a hundred yards from where we crashed last year.”
Helicpirtos are scary enough without getting animals involved.
Why fly so close to the elk frightening the Shi#e out of it. Idiots.
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