When a trucker saw a moose that was critically injured on the road, he pulled off and sat down on the snow next to the animal to comfort it during its final minute of life.

Sault Ste. Marie’s trucker Hunter Berto was driving on Highway 17 when he saw a moose trying to drag itself off of the highway while other drivers ran over its hind legs.

“I was between Thunder Bay and Upsala,” said the 24-year-old trucker who has been working with Big Freight Systems Inc. of Steinbach, Man, since September.

“The truck in front of me hit its brakes,” Berto told SooToday during a stop in Blind River.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a moose pulling itself off the highway, with its front legs.”

“It couldn’t move its back legs at all. It was right on the edge of the highway. Once it got to the snow bank, it couldn’t get past that.

“I hit the brakes, stopped, and called the police.”

Berto left the lights on in his rig so that other vehicles would slow down and pulled the moose’s legs off the highway. He got out and sat with the moose until the police showed up.“I just sat in the snow bank with it. It let me get right up to it. I was petting it and it put its head right on my lap.”

Berto comforted the animal the whole time and talked him through it all.

“I just kept saying: ‘It’s okay. It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay. It’s okay to let go. You’re not alone.’ It was just looking at me in the eyes and that was it.”

Berto says that animals don’t scare him and that we should remember that they are more scared of us.

“Just show comfort and relate to an animal when you want to get close to it. But don’t show fear,” he says. “Don’t show aggression. Just try to relate to it, like we’re all just here.”

We are so happy that he was able to stay with the moose and comfort the animal at the last minutes.

If you love animals, consider signing this petition to demand all states make all animal abuse a felony.