U.S. officials probe elk killing at Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park
By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - Federal wildlife managers are investigating the shooting death of an elk cow in Rocky Mountain National Park, where hunting is illegal to protect a herd of some 600 to 800 of the massive mammals, a park official said on Thursday. Rangers were notified that a visitor to the park, about 60 miles northwest of Denver, shot the elk on Wednesday and that the animal was later found dead near Mills Lake on the eastern side of the park, said spokeswoman Kyle Patterson. Citing the ongoing probe, Patterson declined to provide other details of the incident. Elk were once plentiful in the mountainous area, but were hunted to near extinction in the late 19th century by settlers to Colorado, according to the park's website. In 1913, conservationists transported some 50 elk from Yellowstone National Park to the region, and combined with eradication of the elk's natural predators, the gray wolf and the grizzly bear, the elks' numbers rebounded. The park now is home to an herd of between 600 and 800 elk. Male elk, or bulls, can weigh as much as 1,000 pounds. Mature females are about half that size. While hunting is illegal in the park, licensed culling is allowed of the elk herds that migrate to lower elevations into adjacent national forests during the winter. Rocky Mountain National Park traverses the Continental Divide and contains the headwaters of the Colorado River. (Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver, Colorado; Editing by Michael Perry)
