A moose calf in Alaska was saved from what police described as its “certain disappearance” after it fell into a lake and became trapped between a seaplane and a dock last week.
Spencer Warren, who works for Destination Alaska Adventure Co., heard a noise he initially thought belonged to a bird when he arrived to work at Beluga Lake in Homer around 6:30 a.m. Friday, the Associated Press reported.
As he headed to the dock to prepare a seaplane for a trip that day, he noticed that the noise was not coming from a bird, but from a baby moose that was trapped between the floats of the plane and the dock.
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A man and police officers in Homer, Alaska, rescued a moose calf from drowning last week after it became trapped in a lake between a float plane and a dock. (Spencer Warren via AP)
Warren told the outlet that his first thought was, “Oh, man, where is mom? I know she's nearby.”
Sure enough, the mother, who was with another calf, was about 4 feet away from the trapped calf and was preventing Warren from getting any closer to her struggling baby.
The young moose kept trying to get out of the lake, but its hooves couldn't grip the metal floats, which replace the wheels of an airplane and allow it to take off and land on the water.
“It's like an ice rink for the moose and their hooves,” Warren said in describing Friday's rescue. “So he kept slipping and sliding and couldn't get up.”
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Warren said he then contacted his boss, who called the Homer Police Department for help.
When officers arrived at the dock, one used his police cruiser to block the mother moose while another officer and Warren began pulling the calf out of the water, according to Homer Police Lt. Ryan Browning.
Homer police officers helped Spencer Warren remove the young moose from Beluga Lake last Friday. (Spencer Warren via AP)
Although one of the calf's legs became trapped in the top of the plane's float, rescuers were still able to safely remove the moose from the water.
“You know, fortunately, he wasn't moving, which made the rescue a little easier,” Warren said. “We just picked it up and put it on the dock.”
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An officer helped the calf up on the boardwalk and watched her reunite with her mother.
The young moose was able to reunite with its mother, who was about 4 feet away, after it was rescued from the lake. (Spencer Warren via AP)
“Any time you can rescue a little creature, it always makes you feel good,” Browning told the AP.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
