For weeks, people in Nova Scotia’s Pictou County were getting close to a two-year-old mainland moose on the loose, so the Department of Natural Resources has taken steps to move it to safety.
The scare tactics to move the moose include shooting at it with a rubber bullet and firing a gun to frighten the animal away.
DNR officials say some people were getting too close for comfort.
“It got to the point where we didn't feel that the moose could be allowed to continue to move on its own and it still be safe for the moose, and for the public,” says DNR biologist Shavonne Meyer.
“I mean, if an adult doesn't have enough common sense to stay away from a wild animal, that's their problem,” says Abercrombie, N.S. resident Richard Heighton. “But, if they got a kid close to a wild animal, then that's a different matter altogether, right?”
Meyer says for a large mammal, rubber bullets are a painful irritant.
“We only actually struck the animal once with a rubber bullet, and then we've since returned to the area to shoot off the firearm to give that association from that initial hit.”
Since then, the moose has been spotted in other areas a few kilometres away. While it's too early to say if the animal is gone for good, the weather might be helping.
“Once the spring really starts to feel like spring, typically animals will move from what they were using as their winter habitat, into more summer areas,” says Meyer.
Meyer says she's hoping to be part of an aerial surveillance later this year, to see if she might be able to spot the moose. She says if you see a moose anywhere, leave it alone and let it go on its way.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Dan MacIntosh
