{"id":246548,"date":"2025-11-06T03:25:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T03:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/246548\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T03:25:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T03:25:18","slug":"moose-set-loose-in-b-c-interior-with-the-help-of-a-canadian-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/246548\/","title":{"rendered":"Moose set loose in B.C. Interior with the help of a Canadian flag"},"content":{"rendered":"

A young moose trapped in a horse paddock followed a B.C. woman to freedom after other rescue attempts failed.<\/p>\n

Shauna McAllister had just poured her morning coffee on Oct. 27 at her ranch north of Clinton, B.C., located about 230 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, when she noticed a set of furry ears that weren’t like the others. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, that’s not my big horse. What is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

She put on her slippers and housecoat and found a large, juvenile moose standing on her fenced-in property.<\/p>\n

\"MooseShauna McAllister is not sure how the moose got into her property, and was not sure how to get him to leave. (Submitted by Shauna McAllister)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his hump was at least six feet tall. And he had these big, long floppy ears like a donkey and the typical moose goatee \u2026 and a big rounded snout.\u201d<\/p>\n

McAllister knows how dangerous animals \u2014 particularly moose \u2014 can be, having worked with wildlife and large animals throughout her life as a zoo evaluator and vet assistant.<\/p>\n

\"AShauna McAllister describes herself as a lifelong animal lover. (Submitted by Shauna McAllister)<\/p>\n

She approached the moose cautiously, checking for signs of injury or distress. <\/p>\n

McAllister was not sure how the animal got in and said he seemed healthy, calm, and was content to stay put.<\/p>\n

She suspects the moose was roughly a year-and-a-half old, an age when moose leave their mothers and venture off on their own. <\/p>\n

\"TwoRCMP Const. Taylor Sippel and a conservation officer work together to coax a young moose back into the forest using a Canadian flag. (Submitted by Shauna McAllister)<\/p>\n

She worried the young moose would eventually try to escape and jump over a fence onto the highway that runs along her property.<\/p>\n

Vehicle collisions with moose are not uncommon in the region, and can be fatal. <\/p>\n

McAllister made several attempts to shoo the moose toward her open gate, but he was unfazed. <\/p>\n

She called the B.C. Conservation Officer Service for help and was told officers do not typically conduct animal removals, but they would see what could be done.<\/p>\n

While she waited, McAllister and her horses watched as the young moose had a nap. <\/p>\n

\"AShauna McAllister’s horse watches the moose have a nap on her property. (Submitted by Shauna McAllister)<\/p>\n

“It was absolutely the most magical experience that I can recall having, possibly, in my life,” she said.<\/p>\n

Eventually, RCMP and B.C. Conservation Officer Service vehicles arrived.<\/p>\n

She presented the Mountie and conservation officer a Canadian flag mounted to a two-metre metal pole, thinking it could be used either in self-defence or as a coaxing tool \u2014 depending on how the situation unfolded.<\/p>\n

\"AnRCMP Const. Taylor Sippel says the call made for an unusual day of work. (Submitted by Shauna McAllister)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not every day that you are called to a stuck moose,\u201d said Const. Taylor Sippel with the RCMP’s provincial support team.<\/p>\n

Sippel and the conservation officer tried to use their air rifles to startle the moose, but he wouldn’t budge.<\/p>\n

After an hour, McAllister checked on the officers and the moose. <\/p>\n

\u201cI peeked out through the trees.”<\/p>\n

She said the Mountie was smiling and talking to the moose, while the conservation officer was conducting an assessment.<\/p>\n

They said the moose seemed healthy, but \u2014 as she had learned \u2014 was not interested in leaving.<\/p>\n

McAllister said she has developed an instinct over a lifetime of managing large, stubborn horses.<\/p>\n

OK baby, it’s time to follow Auntie.- Shauna McAllister<\/p>\n

\u201cI just marched right up to [the moose], right two inches from his nose, and I said, ‘OK baby, it’s time to follow Auntie. Let’s go. Come follow right now.’\u201d<\/p>\n

And he did.<\/p>\n

She led the moose and officers \u2014 one still wielding the Canadian flag \u2014 across her property, through the open gate and onto the road. <\/p>\n

The officers then used the Canadian flag to coax the moose into a Crown forest. <\/p>\n

\"TwoThe two officers and Shauna McAllister eventually managed to get the moose into Crown land. (Submitted by Shauna McAllister)<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re glad that we were able to let this moose loose,” Sippel said. <\/p>\n

Clinton RCMP and the B.C. Conservation Officer Service would like to remind the public to keep a safe distance from wildlife and to report animals in distress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A young moose trapped in a horse paddock followed a B.C. woman to freedom after other rescue attempts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-246548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}