Moose sightings are fairly common in rural New Brunswick, but one moose on the loose in Fredericton appears to prefer city life.

The animal has been spotted in busy residential and commercial neighbourhoods, including Main Street.

Malcolm Angus, a sales representative for Cox Electronics and Communications, says he was shocked to learn that a moose had wandered past the Main Street shop one afternoon. The strange sight was captured on the store’s video surveillance.

“You see the moose go by and two seconds later you see the customer come out of the store and it was, you know, the size of a horse, not a full-grown moose, but still interesting enough to see right out front of our doors,” says Angus.

Many Fredericton residents claim to have spotted the moose in the city, and another sighting was reported Thursday morning on a busy stretch of highway near the electronics store.

Dwayne Sabine, a wildlife biologist with the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, says the animal is likely young and recently pushed away by its mother. He says the animal probably wandered into the city overnight.

“An urban area can be quite quiet at 4 a.m. There’s not a lot of activity, but then once people are up and around at sun up, it gets confusing for the moose and they get a little panicky and they tend to run around not knowing where they should go,” says Sabine.

He says no one should ever approach a wild animal, but should call the authorities instead.

Meanwhile, Angus says they are taking their moose encounter in stride.

“Even before we left the store last night we put up a couple of moose crossing signs out front, so we’ve definitely done our best to have a good time with it, for sure.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell