A baby moose has been rescued from what police described as “a sure demise” after it fell into an Alaskan lake and became trapped between a seaplane a dock.
Tourism company worker Spencer Warren had arrived at work about 6.30am in the US state on Friday to prepare the floatplane for a day trip when he heard what he thought was an odd-sounding bird.
He quickly spotted the moose calf stuck between the floats of the plane and the dock at Beluga Lake in Homer, a Kenai Peninsula community about 220 miles south of Anchorage.
The floats replace the wheels on a plane, allowing it to take off and land on water.
Destination Alaska Adventure Co worker Mr Warren said he immediately thought: “Oh, man, where is mama? I know she’s nearby,” before spotting the calf’s worried mother about 4ft away with another calf.
Mother moose can be dangerously protective of their calves — a photographer was killed by one protecting her young just last month in Homer.
The baby moose tried to get out of the lake, but could not gain a foothold on the top of the metal float with its hooves.
Its wary mother was keeping Mr Warren, the would-be rescuer, from getting too close as it struggled.
“It’s like an ice rink for the moose and its hooves,” Mr Warren said. “So he just kept slipping and slipping and could not get up.”
Mr Warren checked in with his boss, who called Homer police.
One officer eventually positioned his police cruiser between the mother moose and the floatplane to allow another officer and Mr Warren to rescue the calf, police officer Lt Ryan Browning told The Associated Press.
The calf had one leg outstretched across the top of the plane’s float, where it was stuck.
“You know, kind of thankfully, he wasn’t moving so that it made the rescue a little bit easier,” Mr Warren said. “We just lifted him straight out and, put him on the dock there.”
The exhausted calf splayed out on the pier until an officer helped it stand.
The calf was reunited with its mother and she licked the water off its body – all of which was caught on camera by Mr Warren.
“Anytime you can rescue a little critter, it always makes you feel good,” Lt Browning said.
