Kentucky State Police responded to an accident with injury on Ky. 221 in Stoney Fork at approximately 7 p.m. Thursday evening. Upon troopers’ arrival, they discovered an elk smashed through the windshield of a small car. The driver escaped with minor injuries. The aftermath of the crash and the elk are pictured above.
On Thursday evening at approximately 7 p.m., Kentucky State Police Post 10 in Harlan County responded to an accident with injury on Ky. Highway 221 in the Stoney Fork community. Stoney Fork resident, 44-year-old Melissa Jones, was traveling west on Ky. 221 when an elk entered the path of her Chevrolet Metro causing severe damage to the front of the vehicle.
The elk shattered the windshield of the vehicle and appeared to be lying across the steering wheel and in the driver’s seat.
Fortunately, Jones suffered only minor injuries. She was transported to Pineville Hospital by a third party vehicle, where she was treated and later released.
The population of elk across eastern Ky. is flourishing. The elk population growth is well ahead of the original model. Elk releases were halted in 2002 and future releases will not be necessary because of their production and survival rate.
Elk are achieving a 90 percent breeding success rate, and a 92 percent calf survival rate. The absence of predators, relatively mild Ky. winters and abundant food sources have not only contributed to the remarkable population growth, but also account for the fact that the Ky. elk are on average 15 percent larger than elk found in western states. By July 2000, Ky. had the largest free ranging, wild elk herd east of Montana.
The Kentucky Elk Restoration project conducted by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife with the support of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is regarded as one of the most successful wildlife reintroduction efforts ever conducted. The original Kentucky elk population target of 7,400 was achieved in 2008, 11 years ahead of schedule. Because of the virtual absence of elk predators, it is believed that approximately 1,500 elk hunting permits a year will have to be issued just to maintain the herd at the 7,400 target level.
Officer Jason Freeman of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement assisted at the scene of Jones’ accident. This crash is still under investigation by Trooper George Howard of Kentucky State Police Post 10 in Harlan.
Some information in this article was obtained from the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife website.
Sarah Miracle is a staff writer for the Daily News. She can be contacted via e-mail at smiracle@middlesborodailynews.com.
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