Conservation officers help free two elk trapped under haystack

Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Conservation officers in British Columbia were summoned to a farm to help rescue two elk that became trapped under a collapsed haystack.

The British Columbia Conservation Officer Service said officers responded to a farm near Smithers where a farmer spotted an animal trapped under a collapsed haystack.

Conservation officers arrived and identified the trapped animal as an elk that was barely visible through the hay. They enlisted the help of the farmer to use his tractor to move some of the hay from atop the animal and discovered there was a second elk trapped even deeper under the stack.

"It is unknown how long the elk had been trapped for, but they were freed and walked away," the conservation officer service said.

The officers said they suspect the elk had been eating hay from one side of the stack and caused it to become unbalanced and tip over onto the animals.