All Jesse Dahlberg could see was an eye and nostrils of an elk buried by an avalanche near Field, BC..So he got to work with his bare hands and was able to dig the animal out of its potential snowy tomb..The drama began when Dahlberg, 32, of Golden, was watching a railway crew set off an avalanche on Mount Dennis on February 3..A few minutes earlier he had noted an elk standing in the path of the avalanche. After it came down he and a friend drove over to check on the animal’s status..“I didn’t know how big the avalanche was going to be so I was hoping for the best, and when I saw it … I thought there’s no way that elk is going to survive,” Dahlberg told CBC..“That wall of snow caught up to that elk so fast and just blasted it.”.It was after arriving on the scene, Dahlberg spotted a set of nostrils, an eye and a piece of fur poking out of the snow..“I could tell it was alive. It was looking at me, I could see its nose moving. It couldn’t move, it was in that snow like concrete. It was alive and I wanted to save it,” he told CBC..Dahlberg started digging away with his hands and yelled at his buddy to grab a shovel..After about 15 minutes of careful digging, the pair were able to free the grateful elk. He said the elk stood about one metre away, looking at him, and continued to do so as the pair left..“I put my arms up and started cheering because I was so excited that it was alive. The whole time I didn’t know if its back was broken or its legs were broken,” he told CBC..“I was so happy.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.TWITTER: Twitter.com/nobby7694
