Forest rangers and environmental conservation officers in upstate New York used sleds and chainsaws to rescue a bull moose that had fallen through the ice on a frozen lake. In a Facebook post, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said officers responding to a call about a moose in Lake Abanakee, around 100 miles northwest of Albany, "observed the moose in the lake, surrounded by ice, and unable to get out of the water." An airboat was sent to help but officers, realizing the moose might not be able to survive much longer in the frigid water, ventured out on the ice, the New York Times reports.
The rescuers donned cold water rescue suits that would protect them if they fell into the lake and cut a path through the ice with chainsaws, UPI reports. The moose was around 200 feet from shore. "I guess there's no training manual for getting moose out of the ice," says Lt. Robert Higgins, a state environmental conservation officer. The officers knelt on sleds to spread their weight on the ice and used the sleds to guide the moose out of the water. "We pushed the jet sleds that we had up close to it. And for whatever reason, it was scared of those," says forest ranger Matt Savarie. "So once we got behind it, we were able to direct it."
The moose, which weighed around 1,000 pounds, made it to shore. It had been treading water in the lake for around two hours. "It was really tired. I was shivering. It didn't have much energy left," Higgins says, per the AP. "We didn't know if was going to be able to stand up or not." But after around 15 minutes, it got up and walked into the woods. "It was just an amazing sight to see that huge moose stand up right in front of us," Higgins says.
(More
moose stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
