UPDATE: The elk carcasses recently exposed by snowmelt at No Name Lake near Broken Top appear to have been caught in an avalanche sometime between spring 2016 and spring 2017 based on photos from the area from previous years. pic.twitter.com/2wtbvqNI1D
— ODFW (@MyODFW) August 14, 2018
Mother Nature showed its unbiased face this week when a herd of 19 elk was found exposed in the snow, apparent victims of a large wet slab sometime between spring 2016 and spring 2017, according to wildlife experts who examined the scene.
Apparently, elk are born with as little knowledge of avalanche conditions as humans. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife think the animals tried to cross a steep, snow-covered slope near Broken Top Peak in the Three Sisters Wilderness above No Name Lake–perhaps as a shortcut over a rocky scree field–sometime after the gigantic winter of 2016-2017 and the slope gave away, killing all the animals and leaving them with broken limbs and maimed bodies. But the animals were perfectly preserved otherwise, according to the ODFW, and were found by a group of hikers.
“They had been encased in snow for quite a while,” Jamie Bowles, a wildlife biologist who was on the scene, told local media. The agency says the animals will not be removed from the backcountry.
The area had a large snowpack after that historic winter that could have possibly held over for two seasons, which might have been why the herd wasn’t found until this week. Wild animals aren’t found like this often, Bowles said but added that scenarios like this could happen more often than biologists know, especially in remote terrain.
