Sixteen elk died in southeast Idaho after the animals broke through a high fence and ate from the bottom of a hay stack causing it to destabilize and collapse. It happened sometime this past winter on the Tex Creek Wildlife Management Area about 15 miles east of Idaho Falls.
The stack yard contained one ton bales of leftover hay from an emergency feeding operation in 2016 following the Henry’s Creek fire. Staffers from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game plan to remove the remaining hay this summer.
They moved the carcasses off site and left them for scavengers.
(Photo source: Idaho Department of Fish and Game)