A baby moose was pulled to safety from freezing Alaskan waters in a daring rescue after his cries for help were heard by a good Samaritan in Homer, Alaska.
The calf was wide-eyed with fear and kicking his long limbs underwater in a panicked struggle to stay afloat, when Spencer Warren heard his bellows. The little moose had somehow gotten himself trapped between a dock and a floating seaplane. He looked terrified and in desperate need of help.
Moose are common in Alaska. And where there’s a baby moose, there’s often a mama moose.
A moment after spotting the baby, Warren turned to see the calf’s mother coming straight towards him with her ears back and a serious expression. Moose mothers are ferociously protective of their young – and this mama moose was no exception.
Warren evaded the distressed mother moose and called in reinforcements from a safe distance.
When Officers from the Homer Police Department arrived, the mama looked to be distracted by her other young calf. That’s when the rescue crew rushed into action.
With the giant mother no longer dangerously close to them, they ran to the water and pulled the baby free. The men yanked the calf from the water quickly, but Warren said that it wasn’t as easy as it looked.
“A waterlogged moose isn’t light,” Spencer Warren explained.
It took the bewildered calf a few attempts to stand upright before staggering off.
“He was definitely shaken up,” Warren said. “I think he had been there for several hours…Poor little guy.”
The baby was wobbly and wet, but otherwise looked unharmed. Without intervention, it’s unlikely the baby would have survived.
Once the family was reunited, the mama moose wasted no time grooming the baby clean and dry. The sweet reunion was captured on camera by one of the rescuers before the family trotted peacefully back into the wilderness.
Lady Freethinker applauds the dedication of good Samaritan Spencer Warren and the Homer Police Officers who pulled off a decidedly dangerous rescue to save the life of the innocent young moose.
