Snowmobilers rescue moose

When New Cap Broadcasting (they own Country 100.7) sent me to Newfoundland to run seven radio stations they had just purchased, I was excited. I grew up in Nova Scotia, but Newfoundland and Labrador was the only province I’d never been to.

My first posting was Corner Brook and the first thing that struck me was how mountainous the western end the province is.

There’s a ski hill in Corner Brook called Marble Mountain and there is incredible skiing there. Much more so than most mainlanders would believe.

Because of the terrain, the Corner Brook airport is 30 kilometres away, in Deer Lake. I guess that’s the first spot flat enough to land a plane on.

I think I told you before that the locals refer to the Newfoundland weather as “10 months of winter and two months of bad ski-dooin’” Skidooing and “getting me moose” are two important tenets of any Newfoundland winter.

Recently, Jonathan Anstey, who owns a snowmobile rental business in Deer Lake, set out with seven other riders to take advantage of a recent blanket of powder snow. They hadn’t gone far when they spotted a moose, up to his neck in what Anstey estimated as six feet of snow.

“We knew the moose was stuck real good,” he said in an interview. “He tried several times to get himself out of the hole, but he wasn’t getting anywhere. When moose get distressed, they pin their ears back, the hair stands up on their backs and they lick their lips a lot. You could tell this one was extremely distressed.”

Some members of the group grabbed shovels and walked around to the rear of the moose where they figured they would be safe from the animal’s thrashing.

“After he realized he wasn’t moving, he kind of stopped and laid down,” Anstey said. After a bit of digging, they had carved out a path behind the moose, and one of the snowmobilers rode up to the animal to coax it to turn around.

“The moose then realized it had footing on solid ground and managed to pull himself out of the hole,” he said. “The liberated moose hung around for a bit to dry off, occasionally looking at us as if to say a little thank you before trotting away.”

Fred Trainor is a retired broadcaster, living in Okanagan Falls. Email: fredtrainor@shaw.ca.