Watch Brave Canadians Daringly Rescue Moose From Frozen Lake
Moose are adept swimmers, but the ice was keeping this one down. 
By Chad Taylor February 11, 2022 Advertisement Pin FB More Tweet Email Send Text Message Print 
female moose running across snowy and frozen lake Credit: Magnus / Adobe Stock
Canadians. You know I love 'em. And now there's at least one moose out there who loves them, too.
Why? This video from Instagram user Byron Holbik with the caption "We couldn't stand by and watch so we acted. Saving this beautiful moose from the icy tomb she found herself in."
Hiking across a frozen Ontario lake, Holbik and his friends came upon a female moose who had fallen through the ice and was trapped, keeping her head above the water but unable to get her front feet up far enough to climb out on her own.
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What unfolds over the next four-and-a-half minutes is beautiful to behold. The fellas used a chainsaw and sledgehammers to cut a path through the ice and then employed a couple large branches to prod her in the right direction and push ice blocks out of her way. Finally, the moose is able to climb from the icy water thanks to Holbik and his friends' work. But at the 3:14 mark in the video, there's a cut in the footage and the poor moose is back in the water. This time, however, her front feet are still on top of the ice, and she's able to once again climb onto the top of the frozen lake and eventually make her way to the shore and treeline beyond.
Despite being the largest members of the deer family and weighing as much as 1,200 pounds, Moose are surprisingly adept swimmers, much to the surprise of more than a few snorkelers and scuba divers over the years. They can reach water speeds of up to 6 mph and dive to the bottom of lake beds in search of vegetation. They've even been known to swim far enough out into bays and inlets to get eaten by orcas.
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But when you're trapped by walls of ice on all sides, even the biggest of animals will need an assist in getting out and back onto dry land. For this particular moose, it was a good thing Holbik and his friends happened to see her predicament. Good on ya, Canada. You have to show those Canada moose at least as much love as your Canada goose.
