Photos: Banff Wolf Pack Drags down Elk on Overpass

Motorists driving underneath a railway overpass in Canada’s Banff National Park were witness to a gruesome scene as a wolf pack feasted on an elk earlier this month. Professional photographer Christopher Martin was one of the several drivers that stopped to watch—at a distance—as the wolf pack dragged down an elk near the railway.

“The elk took a couple of paces, doubled back and then repeated that a couple of times. It seemed unusual behaviour so I trained my telephoto lens on her to have a better look.  When I did, I couldn’t make out anything unusual—until a wolf’s head came into view when it leaped up and bit the elk’s neck!” Martin wrote on his blog. “At that point, part of me was in amazement but the more important part got to work.  I ran up the small hill beside the bridge to get level with the animals.  As I did, I could see four wolves (although the pack has five members; I just don’t have one photograph with more than four but all five were likely there) surrounding the elk.  I did not see what led to the elk being on the bridge but suspect it was herded there by the wolves.”

You can see several of Martin’s photos below: