Wildlife Officers Remove 35-Pound Tire From Elk’s Neck

I'm guessing this wasn't a fashion statement. A four-year-old bull elk in Colorado had been living with a tire around his neck. For a while. The elk was first spotted in 2019 and now, two years later, he's finally free of his all-weather accessory.

According to KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs, wildlife officers had been tracking the elk on trail cameras but were never able to get close to the animal. At last, this past weekend, officers caught up with the elk and tranquilized him. However, removing the tire was tricky. They couldn't saw through the steel belt so they cut the elk's antlers in order to slip the tire over his head.

The tire was filled with debris and weighed a total of 35 pounds. Talk about a workout! Once the tire was removed, the elk was back on his feet "within a matter of minutes," officers say. And, yes, his antlers will grow back. You can see some footage in the report below: