Baby Elk Scoop 'n' Run
June 7, 2014 1:02 AM   Subscribe

Baby elk Scoop 'n' Run. Banff National Park personnel move an urban elk calf to a more isolated spot so its mother won't feel the need to keep charging at people. (SLYT)
posted by cybercoitus interruptus (27 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Tricky balance there between making mom angry enough to follow you and the calf and not so angry she ignores the other humans and comes up to kick you in the head.
posted by tavella at 2:18 AM on June 7, 2014 [4 favorites]


Sad baby elk squeals at 1:28! *covers mouth with both hands to avoid making similar sounds*
posted by book 'em dano at 2:22 AM on June 7, 2014 [10 favorites]


Banff National Park is pristine and gorgeous. I mean it's horrible and don't go there. There are thoughtfully designed and well engineered overpasses and underpasses that cross the roads to help the annual migration from low to high elevation and vice versa and fences that keep the carnage to a minimum.

Run away, or at least be near your car if you see a deer or an elk or especially a moose in the wrong season, and it's always the wrong season for moose. They don't eat meat but they might fuck you up if they catch you in the open.

[We did encounter a herd of Buffalo in the open once in the middle of way back roads Manitoba and it seems they identify a late model Toyota Corolla as not a predator or threat.]
posted by vapidave at 2:41 AM on June 7, 2014 [4 favorites]


Yeah, do not mess with moose. But how did they get the calf to just stay so calm, did they tranq it with something?
posted by dabitch at 2:52 AM on June 7, 2014 [1 favorite]


And you thought leaving your kid in the car while you ran into the grocery got you into trouble!
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:09 AM on June 7, 2014 [3 favorites]


"But how did they get the calf to just stay so calm, ..."

I think that a lot of baby animals rely on camouflage and holding very still, sometimes survival depends on the parents of the animal distracting [birds pretending to have a broken wing] or attacks from the parent animal protect the offspring.

A friend had a cat that had kittens, and a German Shepherd. The German Shepherd got within about forty feet of the kittens which were, ironically, born in the dog house. The dog got close the cat attacked. Ambushed might be a more accurate term. Not a swat, she leapt atop and went MINIATURE-ANGRY-LION. The dog used his tail to protect his parts and lowered his ass end and fucking ran.

The dog soon thereafter, apparently embarassed at having been run off by a cat, snuck up behind me and fucking bit me on my right knee.

Anyway, some newly born animals use the strategy of holding very still rather than fleeing to stay alive. I suspect that might be the case for that baby Elk.
posted by vapidave at 4:23 AM on June 7, 2014 [1 favorite]


One of the most surreal experiences I've ever had was hanging out in a park near the hoodoos at dusk, when out of nowhere a herd of silent elk move around and through us.

It was like being surrounded by ghosts, aware of us, but not interested in us.

I won't say if we were chemically augmented or not.
posted by clvrmnky at 5:12 AM on June 7, 2014 [4 favorites]


This was awesome.

And, completely tangential: check out the copyright notice at the end! Copyright Her Majesty The Queen?
posted by andreaazure at 6:08 AM on June 7, 2014


Yup, here in Canada the Queen owns literally everything. Well, in the government sense. Also, please note that she is HRH the Queen of Canada. It's merely coincidence that she's also the Queen of England.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:10 AM on June 7, 2014 [9 favorites]


Move babby. So worry. Much concern. Scary hoomans. Where babby.
posted by bleep at 6:20 AM on June 7, 2014 [6 favorites]


That calf bleating confused the hell out of my cat.
posted by Skorgu at 6:42 AM on June 7, 2014 [3 favorites]


At about 2:00 you can see one of their sticks being used for protection is actually a hockey stick.
posted by achrise at 7:17 AM on June 7, 2014 [13 favorites]


Hooray happy ending!
posted by Glinn at 7:19 AM on June 7, 2014


All we needed to see was one of the rangers pouring milk from a bag and this would be the most Canadian video ever.
posted by thecjm at 7:38 AM on June 7, 2014 [3 favorites]


At about 2:00 you can see one of their sticks being used for protection is actually a hockey stick.



Of course it is. Something like half of Canadian technology is repurposed hockey gear of one sort or another. That thing on the end of the Canadarm is actually just a Bauer goalie glove.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:58 AM on June 7, 2014 [11 favorites]


The crew at Banff are apparently pretty eager to get in front of the camera and make awesome fools of themselves. I give you the earworm: "Goats And Sheep".
posted by The otter lady at 8:10 AM on June 7, 2014 [23 favorites]


"Mommy's very angry" - Dr. Ian Malcolm.
posted by scalefree at 8:39 AM on June 7, 2014


Jeez. They seem well practised, and I'm not surprised. Every time I've been to Banff, it's been elkorama.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:24 AM on June 7, 2014


At about 2:00 you can see one of their sticks being used for protection is actually a hockey stick.

Well, yeah. Particularly in Alberta, where there are two NHL teams driving a major regional rivalry, hockey is a huuuuuuuuuuuuge deal. Anything that requires a stick -- like staking vegetables or whatever -- the number one source of stick is old hockey stick.

That said, number two is old ski pole, which I would expect Banff has no shortage of.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:32 AM on June 7, 2014


More deliciously-accented but highly sweary Canadian wildlife rescuing. (Probably a coyote instead of a wolf, and that's not barbed wire, but still, this was a mitzvah.)
posted by maudlin at 9:34 AM on June 7, 2014 [2 favorites]


Baby elk-y
Baby elk-y
Carried bleating through the woods
Baby elk-y
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:50 AM on June 7, 2014 [2 favorites]


All we needed to see was one of the rangers pouring milk from a bag and this would be the most Canadian video ever.

Sadly we don't have milk bags in Alberta.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 10:50 AM on June 7, 2014 [1 favorite]


The crew at Banff are apparently pretty eager to get in front of the camera and make awesome fools of themselves. I give you the earworm: "Goats And Sheep" yt .

HA! The goat is my cousin! Didn't recognize him as a goat. :) Only in Canada does it seem super cool (and sort of normal) to see a relative dressed up as a goat in an educational video about mountain sheep and goats.
posted by sadtomato at 12:17 PM on June 7, 2014 [9 favorites]


We did encounter a herd of Buffalo in the open once in the middle of way back roads Manitoba and it seems they identify a late model Toyota Corolla as not a predator or threat.

One of my more vivid memories from early childhood is driving through Elk Island Park, and my Dad stopping the car in the middle of a loose herd of bison. (They were on either side of the road, but not close to it.) He then got out of the car and started fiddling with his camera for at least fifteen minutes taking pictures. I was terrified. I remember peeking up over the edge of the car window and looking into the brown eyes of a bison about twenty feet away. It snorted. I hid. Dad kept taking pictures, having the time of his life. They didn't seem to mind.
posted by Kevin Street at 1:09 PM on June 7, 2014


> I give you the earworm: "Goats And Sheep".

That was the best thing. Makes me wish we could give more than one favorite to a comment.
posted by benito.strauss at 2:54 PM on June 7, 2014 [1 favorite]


Must be a very old video -- The Harper Government doesn't get any mention in the credits.
posted by fredludd at 10:32 AM on June 8, 2014




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