NEW YORK (AP) — A bull moose that plunged through lake ice in the Adirondack Mountains was rescued by New York conservation officials in a laborious cold-water operation. The moose fell through the ice at approximately 11 a.m. on Thursday, located about 200 feet (60 meters) from the shore of Lake Abanakee, as announced by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on Friday. Lake Abanakee is situated near the town of Indian Lake, roughly 60 miles (40 kilometers) south of Lake Placid and to the west of the Vermont border.
“There’s no training manual for getting moose out of the ice,” stated Environmental Conservation Police officer, Lt. Robert Higgins, in a video statement detailing the incident. Higgins was dispatched to the lake following a passerby’s report of the moose breaking through the ice. Upon arrival, Higgins requested backup and was promptly joined by a pair of forest rangers.
In New York, moose are at times illegally hunted by humans, and a handful perish annually due to vehicle collisions, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Across the United States, these large deer relatives confront challenges stemming from human-induced habitat destruction and climate change, resulting in warmer summers and severe tick infestations that can lead to fur loss.
For this particular moose in distress, human intervention was critical. Moose are susceptible to hypothermia and struggle to ascend onto ice after submerging in water. Ice rescues are inherently perilous as rescuers themselves risk falling through the ice.
“We were able to utilize our ice rescue training to safely reach the moose,” explained Forest Ranger Evan Nahor in the video statement. The team donned dry suits for buoyancy and warmth if they ended up in the water. A long metal “spud bar” was utilized to assess the ice thickness, ranging from one to four inches (2.5 to 10 centimeters). Safety ropes were employed to enable swift extraction in case of an accidental fall.
Traversing the lake, the team cautiously navigated a path across the ice, kneeling on sleds to evenly distribute their weight and minimize the risk of breakthroughs. A chainsaw was employed to slice through ice sections obstructing the moose’s path to a thicker ice region, as Higgins maneuvered the ice blocks beneath the channel to clear the way.
The aim was for the moose to follow the channel, swim, and then clamber onto the ice. Given a bull moose’s weight of approximately 1,000 pounds (455 kilograms), physically pulling it out was deemed unfeasible. Despite their efforts to guide the moose toward thicker ice, it was initially deterred by their presence and tools.
The forest rangers’ sleds, however, proved effective in prompting the moose to eventually move onto the ice. After a challenging two-hour ordeal involving cold water and exhaustion, the moose managed to stand up,
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