A father and son from New Brunswick pulled a young moose to safety last week after the animal became stuck in some deep mud.
Shawn Matheson came across the trapped animal while walking with his girlfriend near St. Stephen, New Brunswick last Wednesday evening. Matheson believes the moose had been stuck in the mud for several days. He assumed just from the heat that we’ve had that she was going for a drink of water and ended up getting stuck in the mud.
He tried to dig the mud-covered animal out, but all he had was a paddle, and his attempts were unsuccessful. Shawn returned to the area with his father Richard the next day. Together they used an electric winch to pull the moose — which he believes weighed between 500 and 600 pounds — out of the thick mud.
They think the moose may have been in the mud for three or four days, with no access to the river water so was likely very dehydrated — and very weak.
They had a bucket to give the moose a drink and the more she drank, the more she seemed to come around, they figured they probably gave her 12 to 14 gallons of water.
Because of the sweltering heat that day, they also kept her covered with cool mud and gave her lily pads to eat to get her energy up. And once they saw her getting her strength back, they decided it was time to give her space and left.
Friday when they went back to check the location to see if she was in the area… the moose was gone! Definitely an experience of a lifetime. The Moose is loose again around St. Stephen, NB!
https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/atlantic/2020/6/22/1_4994295.html
-Ian
Credits: ctvnews.ca
