Saturday morning, I came upon a bighorn ram completely mired in the mud of Sheep Lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park.
He worked and worked to escape, but each effort suctioned him deeper into the mud. He was exhausted after his efforts to use his powerful shoulders but only moved forward enough to plant his face in the mud, raising it to nibble on grasses. I expected he would be left to die, letting nature take its course.
Soon, two RMNP rangers arrived. They said a dying ram so close to the road would be too upsetting for people to see, and if rangers didn’t rescue the ram, visitors might try. That could quickly turn dangerous.
A second set of rangers arrived with a park vehicle and drove about 40 yards of the lakeshore.
They were able to wrap a rope behind the ram’s horns so the rope would just slip off after the ram was freed. They pulled both ends of the rope with the help of the vehicle, and slowly pulled the ram free, dragging it across the meadow’s grasses to solid ground.
Despite being exhausted, the ram shed the rope and ran full speed up the hill, scattering all the observers.
Some have asked if I had photos of the ram running when freed. I don’t have any as I was one of the scatterers.
Much gratitude goes to the rangers during this season of gratitude.
The Estes Valley Voice would like to thank wildlife photographer Lyn Ferguson for sharing her photographs of the amazing rescue by National Park Rangers of a bighorn ram mired in mud at Sheep Lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park.
I was there the next day (Monday AM) and the ram was doing fine. No sign of injury. Here is a very nice photo I took of him then: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Jceq3vmcN/