May 31 - 12 pm. update Colorado Parks and Wildlife workers are at Lookout Mountain but have been unable to locate the elk.
CPW staff from the Northeast region and agency veterinary staff from Fort Collins are hoping to find the elk to assess the situation and assist as needed.
May 31 8:30 a.m. update Colorado Parks and Wildlife workers are heading to the location in an effort to locate the elk. Once she is found, they will determine if they need to intervene to remove the calf.
Lauren Truitt with Colorado Parks and Wildlife said they fear if the calf has not been born by now, there's a good chance it is dead. Their main objective is to save the mother at this time.
May 30 - 7 p.m. update | Lauren Truitt with Colorado Parks and Wildlife tells 9NEWS they were unable to get a good line of sight to shoot the tranquilizer dart, and now the elk has moved to an area of steep terrain.
They have decided not to pursue her for now, for her safety. Getting close enough to use the tranquilizer gun could spook her.
They’ll go back out first thing tomorrow.
May 30 - 4 p.m. update | Lauren Truitt with Colorado Parks and Wildlife tells 9NEWS that wildlife officers and two wildlife veterinarians from Fort Collins are with the elk to assess the situation. 9NEWS ended the live stream while officials evaluate the elk.
This story will continue to be updated.
May 30 - 1:30 p.m. update | Lauren Truitt with Colorado Parks and Wildlife requested the location of our tower cam because they want to go out there to check on the soon-to-be elk mama.
Wildlife officers are headed to Lookout Mountain to meet up with two wildlife veterinarians from Fort Collins. They hope to arrive around 2:30 p.m.
They haven't decided what they'll do or if they'll intervene; they'll make that decision when they arrive, Truitt said.
May 29 - 10 p.m. original report | She doesn't have a name. She wasn't even known by anyone until Tuesday night beginning around 6 p.m. But now? This little pregnant elk all the way up on Lookout Mountain outside of Golden is an internet star.
No, really. We've got the numbers - more people on Facebook were watching her live than any other live video in the world! And it wasn't even close.
At its peak, the 9NEWS livestream of this little almost-mama elk laying down had 13,600 people at once on it. In all, 591,000 people at least stopped by to watch her for a few moments.
Nearly a million people were reached by the video (saw it pop up in their feeds).
Wow! What a night for a little cow elk from the Front Range!
Many, many viewers were worried for her, though. They said she looked uncomfortable and like it was taking too long to give birth.
Lauren Truitt with Colorado Parks and Wildlife got back to us to say it was, for sure, a cow elk giving birth.
Apart from that, it did look like the elk was struggling to give birth. Truitt reiterated to 9NEWS their policy of not interfering with wild animals.
If things end up going south for this little nearly-a-mama, Truitt wanted us to let everyone know that's just how nature works.
Photos: This is the elk mama who could!
At last check, this little elk that could still hasn't given birth - but we're going to check in on her again at first light. We aren't giving up!
We doubt she will either.
It's important to remember that despite moments like this making animals appear docile and almost tame, that this elk mama is a wild animal. At no point should anyone ever go up to an elk, nor should they try and get an elk to come up to them.
The beauty in the livestream was just that: you could see - but not interact - the incredible world outside our homes and offices. But let's not imagine the elk would have liked it very much if almost a million people crowded around her atop the mountain to watch her give birth.
