A group of men rushed to help a moose after it crashed through thin ice in northern Cape Breton on Sunday and the dramatic rescue was caught on camera.
“I was there doing my driveway, I seen a car slowing down, I shut off the snowblower and came over to the bank and I could see the moose, he fell through the ice there,” says rescuer Andrew MacEachern.
A few of MacEachern’s friends were nearby and together they trekked onto the ice in Dingwall, where the moose was struggling to stay afloat.
“When we got here (on the ice), she was right here, she was kicking and stuff,” says rescuer Daniel Christie.
“If we had waited another 20 minutes or so, I’d say he wouldn’t have made it, because his eyes were pretty red. He was pretty frozen by the time we got him out,” says MacEachern.
Fortunately for the animal, some of the men had received ice rescue training as volunteer firefighters.
The men placed a rope around the moose’s neck and attached it to a specialized sled. Oars were then used to break the thickest ice.
“Once we got the rope around the moose, we ventured out and started dragging it from there,” says Dale Dixon.
“We brought him down to the end there, started breaking up the ice. Eventually got one of his legs out. When the leg came out, we all pulled, eventually he came out.”
The air and water temperature in Dingwall is cold enough that a mere 24 hours after the rescue, it is frozen solid - harsh conditions, for both the moose and its rescuers.
“We were soaked when we were done,” says Dixon. “By the time we were done, we just ventured up and got in somewhere with a heater so we could get warm.”
The men say they are getting plenty of praise for their dramatic rescue.
“Made us feel unbelievable, really good. Actually made us feel like heroes for once,” says Dixon.
As for the moose, they say it suffered a bloody lip during the rescue, but made it safely into the woods after being rescued.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald
