Woman upset after moose put down by SPCA

A Newfoundland woman who bottle-fed a baby moose after it got lost in the woods without its mother says she’s heartbroken after the local SPCA put the animal down.

Brandi Calder said Friday her husband was building a cabin in the woods near Glenwood, N.L., when he heard a strange crying noise and discovered the threeday-old calf on its own with no sign of its mother.

“The baby moose was crossing a brook that’s normally low but this time of year is quite high and fastmoving,” she said in an interview. “The moose tried to cross it but got pulled under and almost drowned.”

Calder said her husband tried to track the mother moose but she was “long gone” and the young calf stayed by his side.

After waiting several hours for the mother to return, her husband decided after nightfall to bring the infant animal home rather than leave it alone overnight in the woods.

“She would have died of starvation, drowned in the brook or the coyotes would have killed her,” Calder said.

The baby moose still had its umbilical cord attached and had long, gangly legs.

“She looked out of proportion and she wobbled when she stood up,” she said. “She also looked hungry.”

Although Calder couldn’t find any suggestions for what to feed the orphaned moose — which she named Moo — she discovered that fawns can be fed goat’s milk mixed with baby cereal.

“I figured a baby moose and a baby deer are close enough,” Calder said.

She bought some goat’s milk then stopped in at her sister’s, who has a human baby, and borrowed a bottle and baby cereal.

“At first she didn’t take the milk,” Calder said. “So I cut the nipple so it would drip and put my finger in her mouth to open it so she could get a taste of it.”

Calder and her husband took turns feeding and watching over the little moose throughout the night and called the Gander and Area SPCA in the morning.

But two hours after the SPCA picked up the animal, Calder said she was put down.

“They said the Salmonier Nature Park couldn’t take the calf and a veterinarian said it was dehydrated and had diarrhea,” Calder said. “I was so upset, I started to cry.”

SPCA manager Bonnie Harris said wild animals cannot be taken care of in a shelter.

“We followed protocol,” she said.