It was a typically snowy and frosty day in British Columbia, Canada. The residential area was calm and receiving a pleasant reprieve of sunshine, but things wouldn’t stay that way for long when one local man discovered a moose stuck in his house fence!
YouTube user ShadoHHR posted a video of the find, along with his attempts to free the baby moose from its predicament.
A passing motorist had seen the confused creature and stopped to help. What they found, ShadoHHR wrote in the video’s description, was “two hooves sticking out of the fence, and on the other side, the longest, distressed little face, with the biggest brown eyes ever seen. Apparently he had tried to jump the gate to our fence but didn’t get the needed height.”
Although he was scared, or perhaps because of this, the moose stayed still as the two men got to work freeing his front hooves from between the wooden slats of the fence. “Poor little guy,” one man can be heard saying as the moose lets out a frightened huff of frosty winter air. “Simmer down, big guy,” the other says as he begins struggling to free himself.
A few more chops of the hatchet, and the moose is free!
As thanks, he placidly stood in front of the two men and began to chew slowly.
A few commenters on the video’s page pointed out that this may be similar to a submission gesture seen in horses and other large mammals. The moose may have been showing that he was comfortable being vulnerable in front of the two men, grateful for their help.
Moments later, he began to bound away and back down the road, appreciative of the help and hopefully with a lesson learned!
Now a full-grown adult, he’s likely at least twice as big as he was when the video was shot. If he kept up his habit of jumping fences, I bet he’s a lot more successful now!