A calf moose was disrupting traffic in Thunder Bay until police and a rescue agency wrangled it to safety
A police officer in Thunder Bay, Ont., says the decision to wrangle a moose that had been hanging around roadways and was being hand-fed by the public was made with safety in mind.
Last Friday, Const. Jesse Harnden of the Thunder Bay Police Service learned the moose was frequenting the area of Townline and Government roads, and was disrupting traffic.
"I got there, and at that time, there's two to three vehicles there," Harnden said. "People are feeding it out of their hands with apples, and it was standing in the middle of the road.
"Needless to say, this is not something you would see every day."
Harnden said he was told by a passerby that the moose had been in the area since October, and the rumour was the calf's mother had been hit by a transport truck on nearby Dawson Road.
Moose stuck its head in officer's window
Harnden said he approached the moose and it began licking the salt off his police cruiser.
"It put its head into my window prior to me getting out of the car," he said. "At that point, we're trying to get the moose off the road and it didn't want to go anywhere because the snow is deep.
"It was a safety issue for the moose, as well as people driving down the road, and it was starting to get dark."
Harnden said while shooting the moose was a possibility, another resident managed to get the animal off the road. The constable said the resident was wearing a large brown jacket and the calf may have thought the person was another moose.
The calf followed the resident into a backyard. However, it didn't remain there: someone placed vegetables, deer feed and salt blocks on the edge of the road, so the moose made its way back.
"You can't have a wild animal that's been somewhat domesticated in the past two or three months," Harnden said. "And then, it became kind of a social media sensation.
"More and more people would show up there. You try to clear them out, but as I was sitting there with the lights on, more and more people showed up."
Rescue agency gets moose out of the area
Harnden contacted a local animal rescue organization, and a farmer in the area brought a horse trailer and escorted the moose in; it was then taken to a nearby farm.
Harnden said the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources was contacted about the animal as well.
He said the moose has now been transferred to Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Ontario.
In its statement, the ministry reminded people not to feed wild animals, as that can make them dependent on artificial food sources, and they risk losing their natural fear of humans and pets.
In addition, animals could get sick as artificial feed is not healthy for them. Feeding animals near roadways also increases the risk of motor-vehicle collisions resulting in property damage, injury, or death.
