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Officer sets moose tangled in swing set chains loose

There's a moose loose ... and it's a good thing.

A sheriff's deputy responded to a call from a homeowner in Huntsville, Utah, to find an adult moose snagged in the chains from a backyard swing set.

"I walk up and there's this full-grown moose with three swings wrapped around its horn and it's completely trapped," Sgt. Lane Findlay told ABC 4 News.

Findlay said it was obvious the moose was agitated by its stuck state and in pain, with blood on his antlers and tears to the velvet on his skin.

Findlay used a set of bolt cutters to carefully free the big fellow, cautiously clipping the swing chains.

"Every time I would cut one, he would feel that tension release and start to move around," he said.

Finally Findlay had clipped all the chains and the moose was loose.

"Once he was free he just took off," Findlay said. The moose managed to get to a nearby house before exhaustion from the struggle with the swings got to be too much. Findlay gave the moose some water and sprayed him down with a hose. Once rested, the moose was able to continue his trek back to the nearby forest.

The Department of Natural Resources says the moose will eventually shed the antlers and won't suffer any long-term effects from the episode.