In February 2014 a young moose tried to jump a wooden gate in Quesnel, in northern British Columbia, and ended up hanging by its front legs, wedged between the boards. Local residents worked together to chip the gate apart until its hooves slid free, and the rescue was filmed and posted on YouTube by ShadoHHR.
The Quesnel moose rescue
The video, titled “Baby Moose – caught in gate – 2014 02 10”, shows the calf pinned across the top of the gate with both front legs trapped. The uploader described the moment the news arrived: “Somehow the words ‘there’s a moose stuck in your fence’ doesn’t register on the brain the way you might think.” The uploader also described the calf’s “longest, distressed little face, with the biggest brown eyes ever seen.”
With a hatchet, the men cut and chipped away the wooden panels of the gate until the calf’s hooves came free.
Moose calves and their first winter
A calf in February is around eight or nine months old. Moose cows usually give birth in May or June after a pregnancy of about eight months, and twins are possible when food is plentiful. Newborns are reddish, turning brown as they grow. The calf stays with its mother until just before her next calf is born, when she drives it away, typically around 18 months after its birth.
Even a “baby” moose is a big animal. Adults stand 1.4 to 2.1 metres at the shoulder; bulls weigh about 380 to 700 kg and cows 200 to 490 kg. In winter moose browse on branches, twigs and bark, avoid the deepest snow, which slows them down, and are drawn to roads to lick the salt. Moose live across almost all of Canada apart from the Arctic and Vancouver Island, as well as most of Alaska and parts of the northern United States.
Why fences trap moose
The Quesnel calf had apparently tried to jump the gate and came down short, so its front legs dropped between the boards. A young moose is tall but still clumsy, and a gate with gaps between its boards can catch a leg halfway across. Once caught, the animal cannot back out on its own, which is why the boards had to come apart.
If you find a trapped moose
Call your local conservation or wildlife officers first. Moose are limber, can kick in any direction and have sharp hooves, and cows defend their calves fiercely, especially against anyone who comes between them. In a later case, a man who freed a young moose from a wire fence in West Kelowna, BC, was struck three or four times by its front hooves before it ran off. Keep pets and onlookers well back while trained help is on the way.
More moose stories: A Moose in the Ice: The Loon Lake Rescue and A Moose Pushes Through Deep Snow in Gaspésie.
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