Crane comes to rescue when icy deer gets trapped on frozen Colorado lake, photos show

A deer trapped on a snowy shore beside a frozen Colorado lake got a helping hand from a nearby crane, a video and photos show.

“Oh dear! This guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time near Evergreen Lake on Friday,” read a Sunday, Nov. 26, post on X, formerly branded as Twitter, by Colorado Parks & Wildlife.

A video with the post shows the stranded deer pacing back and forth on snow-covered rocks between a road and the frigid lake.

“A nearby crane truck operator in the right place at the right time gave our wildlife officers a hand with the #rescue,” a later post reads.

Wildlife officers tranquilized the deer and strapped it up so the crane could lift it over a fence along the road, photos show.

“The deer was relocated to (a) better habitat and hopefully had a quiet holiday weekend,” wildlife officers wrote on X.

Evergreen Lake is about 30 miles southwest of Denver.

This story was originally published November 27, 2023 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Crane comes to rescue when icy deer gets trapped on frozen Colorado lake, photos show."