Utah Shepherd Survives After Being Gored by Elk

Photo Credit: AP

A wild bull elk gored a shepherd in the mountains in eastern Utah, puncturing one of the man’s lungs, knocking him unconscious and forcing him to walk several miles for help.

Sheepherder Hugo Macha, 31, was in good condition in a Grand Junction, Colo., hospital Friday, three days after the rare attack in the La Sal Mountains.

“He was already worrying about his sheep,” said Polly Hill, co-owner of the 1,000 sheep Macha tends, in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. “The doctor said he was lucky because the way the lung was punctured it kept it from collapsing. He might be able to come home Sunday. We will take care of him until he is back on his feet.”

Macha, who is from Peru, told rescuers that he’d been sitting on the ground and leaning against a tree Tuesday evening when the elk appeared and started heading toward him. He tried to get away, according to Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officer Dennis Shumway, but the animal ran him down, knocked him to the ground and gored him with its antlers.

When he came to, the elk was nowhere to be found.