Scared moose was stuck on a bridge with trains coming. It took a crane to save it
A 700-pound moose got in quite the quandary on Thursday while trying to cross a bridge in Vermont.
The trestle bridge is home to an active railroad — and the moose got stuck in its tracks.
Wildlife officials weren’t sure rescuing it would work.
“It is rare that this kind of intervention makes sense because of the risk posed to the animal and responders,” Vermont Fish and Wildlife said in a Facebook post Thursday. “Such recoveries are many times not successful.”
Lucky for the moose, a crane was on hand.
Wildlife officials posted a video of the dramatic feat on Facebook. It starts with images of the animal laying across the tracks next to Route 103 in Cavendish — a town of less than 2,000 people near the New Hampshire border.
The video shows a rescuer tentatively approaching it with a tranquilizer gun. The moose tries in vain to get up before settling back down, resigned to its fate.
Moments later, a team carefully loads the sedated animal into a bright yellow sling and onto a railway vehicle.
“Down the track miles from town at a safe spot near the woods, the moose was unloaded,” the caption states.
Wildlife officials monitored the moose until it got back on its feet, gave the camera a long, slow look and tentatively trotted away.
According to the Facebook post, it took help from Vermont Fish and Wildlife, the Vermont Rail System, Springfield Fire Department and the Town of Cavendish to pull off the rescue.
The moose returned to the wilderness with “minimal injuries,” officials said.
“It’s great to see that in this case it ended well for those involved and for this very fortunate moose,” the post states.
