Kudos to the men who helped save elk

We had an incident recently when a small herd of elk fell through the ice. Thanks to the efforts of a wonderful group of local individuals, the elk were pulled from the ice filled water.

The elk were dried off and rubbed to warm them. Two elk survived and the other two that didn’t make it were put to good use as food for needy families.

Kudos to Don Allenburg, Ty Iverson, John Lefebvre, Bill Lefebvre, John Solt, Mick Atkins and Phil Drewson. You all probably never thought twice about helping these animals with all the risks involved to yourselves. You make me proud to live in a place where people know and respect the value of all life.

The wildlife agency contacted said “nature was taking its course and there was nothing they could do.” I’m thankful that Don and these other men didn’t have this same attitude. They realized that life, any life, is the greatest gift given and to let these animals suffer and die needlessly would haunt anyone with a conscience. How come agencies don’t have this same motto of “nature taking its course” when spending hundreds of thousands of dollars when it comes to Caribou, grizzly, wolves and over a hundred green gates?

ANGELA DINNING

Bonners Ferry

Editor’s note: Brian Johnson, local Idaho Fish and Game officer said he wasn’t informed of the incident until it was too late to respond, but would have if he had been contacted earlier. The Herald article attributed Fish and Game with the statement that this was “nature taking it’s course,” but Johnson doesn’t know who was initially contacted regarding the elk. He says that Fish and Game does respond to incidents of this nature.

Other federal agencies, including Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service have jurisdiction over endangered species and gated forest roads.