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Moose noshes on Canada 150 tulip display at MUN Botanical Garden

Moose noshes on Canada 150 tulip display at MUN Botanical Garden

It's a gardener's worst nightmare: Animals or birds have destroyed your prize display.

That's precisely what the team at Memorial University's Botanical Garden discovered on May 18 — a moose had eaten most of their Canada 150 tulips.

The red and white tulip bulbs were planted last fall to bloom this year, as part of Canada's 150th anniversary of confederation.

Garden staff posted several photos on its Facebook page Thursday, which clearly showed the evidence.

Munched on greenery

Staff retained their sense of humour about the incident, however, stating on Facebook, "How bloomin' Canadian is that, than to have moose 'garden experience'?!"

"It won't be as magnificent as it should have been," said Quinn Burt, who was working in the garden Sunday.

"Our moose got in and ate a lot of our tulips and pulled up bulbs."

The animal had a finicky palate, perhaps, as it chose to only eat tulip stems and greenery, leaving behind the bulbs.

It looks like the moose missed out on some tender morsels; according to the Danish bulb exporter Flewel, "a fresh tulip bulb has a sweet, milky flavour."