Your morning adorable: Alaska family saves moose calf

Big Lake, Alaska, resident Randy Richards and his family didn't take it lying down when an Alaska state trooper suggested a baby moose they rescued should be shot. The newborn calf had somehow become separated from its mother and was chased into the Richards' yard by a pack of dogs; the family rescued it and tried to find its mother, to no avail. The calf was so young its umbilical cord was still hanging from its navel. 

The family placed the calf in a fenced area overnight and called the state troopers, who were less than optimistic about its chances.  The Anchorage Daily News reports on what happened next:

The calf caused some commotion during the rainy night from Wednesday to Thursday, running around the yard and crying for its mother. But morning arrived and Mama Moose still was nowhere to be seen.

So Richards started making calls.

Nick Cassara, a fish and game technician Richards spoke to that morning, was making calls too. He said the Milwaukee County Zoo had applied to the state for two moose. The application wasn't yet approved but the Alaska Zoo, where a lot of moose orphans end up, agreed to take care of the calf until it was.

Cassara loaded the moose in the back seat of his pickup and delivered it there Thursday.

The calf will be cared for by Alaska Zoo staff for another month or so, at which point it'll be taken to its new home in Wisconsin.  More photos after the jump!

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--Lindsay Barnett

Photos: Robert DeBerry / Associated Press

Comments

[Ben]

So now Sarah Palin will have something to shoot from a helicopter in a few years. It warms my heart.

[Maria]

I guess that's the yin and yang of Alaska for you: One person ready to resort to a gun and another with a more creative thought process. Thank God for the latter.

[CJ]

Bless those people who refused to let it be euthanized! What a sweet baby moose.

[Kelly]

How typical. If "Ben" or "Maria" had bothered to read the original article, they might have noticed that the man who saved the moose is "an avid hunter."

[Americas Best Zoos author]

I remember looking for wildlife while up in Alaska -- moose were always among our favorites to spot.

Interesting that this moose is going to the Milwaukee Zoo. Surprisingly, very few American zoos have moose, so they are quite a thrill to see in zoos. Zoos that have them include Milwaukee, Alaska, Minnesota, Columbus, and Boise.

[Alecia]

Boise Zoo doesn't have any moose.

[GMS]

Suggest contacting Acadia Zoo outside Bar Harbor in Maine, or the Maine Wildlife park in Grey Maine. Both have moose.

[TS]

A bullet to the head is not euthanasia, despite redneck beliefs.

[Heather]

Oh geeze, when will these liberals quit with the mocking comments about Governor Palin shooting wolves from a helicopter!? It wasn't just for kicks, it was to protect the environment!! Or, I'm sorry, do liberals only care about the environment when it has to do with Co2 and it's on their terms, not anyone else's? Sorry, Ben & Maria, but that case of Governor Palin ordering the shooting of wolves from helicopters was under the direction of the environmental and wildlife protection agencies of Alaska. It's called population control!! If the wolf population were to get out of control, it would have threatened the existence of multiple other species in the region, including several that were endangered. Oh sorry, or do the facts get in the way of your pathetic attempts at politically motivated one-liners? Get over yourselves and for once look beyond your politics and actually examine the facts! The more pundits on both sides engage in such pathetic behavior, the more it tarnishes your reputations. If you're going to 'cry wolf' over crap like this, it's going to make people that much less likely to listen to you when it comes to something that actually matters!
All ridiculous commenters aside, applause for the Richards family! Great job taking care of the poor moose calf. You guys are shining examples of what it means to be a responsible hunter!

[Will]

Heather,

Let's think about this. If not shooting wolves produces overpopulation, how have our Alaskan ecosystems kept themselves sustainable for thousands of years, without taxpayer funded wolf control?

Wolf control in Alaska is actually to create overpopulation-- of moose and caribou, for hunters to shoot. In Denali National Park, wolves are protected, and the system regulates itself just fine-- except there isn't a huge surplus of big game for hunters to shoot each year.

None of this is inherently political. I've killed around twenty Alaskan caribou since I was seven years old, indirectly with the help of wolf control. This doesn't make me a conservative, nor does pointing out your flawed logic make me 'a liberal.' What it does register is the necessity of moving beyond political name calling if we want to have a future where there's room for everyone to get along: liberals, conservatives, wolves and moose alike.

[Conscience]

For the rabid conservatives who approve of the wolf hunt, I can only say that you have no idea of the fear and pain and suffering this causes to animals who are just trying to live. Or maybe you think that wolves don't feel terror at being chased by a chopper, or pain when a high power slug rips their flesh. What has happened to people's sense of compassion and empathy? All animals deserve the care and consideration this baby received. That's humanity and it doesn't come with a political label.