Wildlife officials confirmed that 21 elk were found dead after falling through ice on a reservoir near Pagosa Springs in southwestern Colorado.
Matt Robbins, a spokesman for Colorado Parks & Wildlife, said that the elk might have fallen through the ice on Echo Lake Canyon Reservoir Sunday night.
"They had gone out on the ice, about 50 feet from shore. It was not stable, and they fell in," Robbins told the Denver Post.
Robbins considered the incident unfortunate and rare, but natural. The weight of the elk, around 300 to 1,000 pounds each, was too heavy for the ice to carry so it broke down causing them to drown.
"It doesn't happen all the time or very often, but it is a natural occurrence," Robbins said. "There were just too many of them for the ice to hold."
Wildlife officials found out about the incident after residents informed them on Monday. The carcasses of the elk were removed by the wildlife officials and taken to a landfill on Tuesday, Uncover Michigan reported.
Misha Garcia, a resident who saw the dead elk in the shoreline, took some photos and generated traffic to pagosasprings.com in less than 24 hours.
This is not the first time that elk drowned in the area. In 2008, 19 elk drowned in Paonia Reservoir in Delta County. In 2011, three elk cows fell at a private pond near Pagosa Springs, with one dying.
