A helpless moose was given a second chance at life after being rescued by a pair of 70-year-old men, now being hailed as heroes.
The distressed was trapped deep in a mud pit and unable to move in the wilds of Timmins, Ontario.
“I was at home and I got a call from a buddy saying he’s in the bush taking soil samples and he’s found a moose 20 feet from the road,” said Maurice Valliere, one of the men to BlogTO.
His buddy, aged 82, attempted to get the moose out himself by giving the moose some branches for it to climb, but it was already stuck too deep.
So Vallier and his friend Pat Greba contacted the local authorities, but couldn’t reach anybody, so decided to take matters into their own hands.
At this point, without their help, the moose would’ve surely faced death, so they set out to see what they can do.
The first hurdle was clearing a path so they could get their ATV to the spot the moose was at, which was two km off the highway, this took over an hour in itself.
Eventually, when they managed to locate the moose, they realized how bad the situation actually was, ” I looked to the side and all I saw was a head. I said ‘Holy Jesus, this thing is really stuck! He’s not stuck, he’s buried!’”
Valier spoke to him in a low voice to try and keep the moose calm before tying a sling around his antlers:
“He started to fight back, tried to reach me with his legs, but couldn’t reach high enough. I felt so sorry for him. His mouth was full of mud and his eyes were full of mud.”
After a few failed attempts, the pair eventually managed to pull the moose up and out of the hole which was believed to have been about seven feet deep.
Once out, and completely covered in mud, the moose ran away. Despite still having one sling attached to its horn, it seemed happy to be free and in good spirits.
The photos were shared on Facebook by a friend of the pair named Bill Desloges to show the stages of the rescue.
Apparently, the moose was trembling when it first came out of the mud, presumable being exhausted from struggling to get out.
“I felt good that we got him out, ’cause I felt so sorry for him. He was struggling and struggling and just couldn’t do it.”
It isn’t clear how long the moose was stuck for, but it is very likely that he would not have survived if it wasn’t for the valiant efforts from both Pat Greba and Maurice Valliere, we salute both of you!
Thank you for caring and helping the helpless. Heros for sure
It never ceases to amaze me the strength one can muster after finding ourselves in the presence of a true life and death setting. I’m proud of these two men without even personally knowing them! I too could never leave a struggling near death animal and walk away without helping. GOD BLESS AMERICA