“The calf’s mother would come up to the foundation, walk over to the calf and touch muzzles and walk away about 40 yards. The residents saw the calf and mother were stressed and needed help so they called CPW.” –CPW Officer Serena Rocksund
A moose calf trapped in the basement foundation of a house that burned in the East Troublesome Fire last year has been rescued and reunited with its mother. 9NEWS reports Colorado Parks and Wildlife responded to a call Thursday in Grand Lake of a moose calf that had fallen into a 4-foot-deep foundation. Good Samaritans had tried to rescue the calf themselves by creating a ramp with boards that might have allowed the calf to climb out but it was unable to get gain the purchase to make the steep climb.
When CPW Officer Serena Rocksund arrived on scene, she found the calf with its agitated cow nearby. After both the cow moose and calf were tranquilized, they were relocated to more suitable habitat near Craig later that afternoon.
“It’s a good reminder that folks need to fence off foundations and cover their window wells because animals can get trapped and die. We’ve had some increased reports of human-moose conflicts near Grand Lake since the East Troublesome Fire burn and we didn’t want to take the risk that this moose might get trapped again if we released it near the burn area. So this relocation actually was a win-win for these moose and the CPW project.” –CPW Area Wildlife Manager Jeromy Huntington