{"id":635276,"date":"2026-04-29T00:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635276\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T00:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:47:11","slug":"stuck-moose-freed-from-ice-by-tow-truck-driver-in-eastern-saskatchewan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635276\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuck moose freed from ice by tow truck driver in eastern Saskatchewan"},"content":{"rendered":"

An exhausted moose<\/a> was pulled out of a frozen waterway in eastern Saskatchewan by a tow truck operator, who then nursed the animal back to health.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The rescue began last week when the moose\u2019s eventual rescuer, Clint Gottinger, received some requests for tows in the evening. Gottinger is a tow truck operator in Kelvington, Sask., a community almost 250 kilometres outside of Saskatoon.<\/p>\n

The moose was stuck in the ice at a junction near his home.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight across the road, I see in the water there that poor guy struggling,\u201d\u00a0Gottinger\u00a0said, recounting how\u00a0the\u00a0days-long rescue mission began.<\/p>\n

\u201cI drove up beside him there to look over and I couldn\u2019t leave him. I thought, \u2018Oh, OK, everybody\u2019s got to wait, I\u2019ve got to get this guy out.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPulling the moose out of the frozen water was like saving a Kia, the tow truck operator told Global News.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tClint Gottinger\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Luckily for the moose \u2014 whom he named Rebel \u2014 Gottinger had the tools he needed in his truck. He threw a sling strap at Rebel to pull him out. He said he was aiming for the moose\u2019s front legs but landed closer to the animal\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

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As he tried to yank the moose out of the frozen water, he said it was trying to push itself and help.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

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With the assistance of some neighbours, Rebel was freed from the ice and pulled onto the deck of the tow truck.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so tired and exhausted. He just sat there \u2014 but he was happy to get out of the ice,\u201d Gottinger said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRebel the moose was towed from the spot where it was saved to Gottinger\u2019s driveway, where it recovered before returning to the wild.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tClint Gottinger\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Canada
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On the way home, where Rebel would recuperate, Gottinger called his wife and asked her to get blankets ready for the family\u2019s newest guest. She brought them outside, and Gottinger used them to warm up Rebel, who sat at the end of their driveway.<\/p>\n

Rebel sat there for days.<\/p>\n

Gottinger tried feeding him oats, but the moose was too exhausted, he said. Conservation officers also looked at the animal and said it needed to rest.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe next morning, (we) checked on him again. He was still in the same spot, just sitting there on the blanket,\u201d Gottinger recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe walked up and I would scratch his chin and his nose and stuff. And he liked that. My wife didn\u2019t like that \u2014 she was hollering at me, \u2018Don\u2019t go up to him!\u2019 (But) I think he\u2019s fine,\u201d he added, chuckling.<\/p>\n

For the rest of the checkups that day, Rebel seemed to be on the mend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next morning, he was standing up. Then he was gone,\u201d his rescuer said.<\/p>\n

On the night he saved the moose, Gottinger said he had to cancel on customers who were waiting on a tow, but most were understanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, once I got to them, I had to show the pictures for proof,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An exhausted moose was pulled out of a frozen waterway in eastern Saskatchewan by a tow truck operator,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[62896,49,48,13711,66,323],"class_list":["post-635276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animal-rescue","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-moose","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}