As the nation’s largest wildfire rages, firefighters have saved an abandoned newborn elk calves from the ashes. This is as the calving season nears its peak in New Mexico.
Nate Sink, a Montana-based firefighter, said Tuesday that he came across the motionless elk calves on Tuesday in a New Mexico forest fire-blackened by fire. He was patrolling and extinguishing any lingering hot spots.
The whole area was covered in thick layers of ash and burnt trees. Sink said that he didn’t believe it was alive. Sink was sent to the state to assist in containing a wildfire that had spread over 486 miles (1,260 kilometers) and destroyed hundreds. It is one of five uncontained fires that are currently burning in New Mexico, which is extremely dry and windy.
Officials from wildlife agencies discourage interaction with elk calves who are left alone for a few weeks as their mothers forage away. Silver claims that he looked diligently for signs of the mother of the calf and could not find any.
