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RCMP can't confirm moose calf was chased, beaten
 
 
August 12, 2009

 
Police and other unidentified men try to help a baby moose in 
Newfoundland earlier this week, reportedly after it was chased and 
beaten with sticks by a group of boys. The moose had to be destroyed.
 
More Images �
 
Police and other unidentified men try to help a baby moose in 
Newfoundland earlier this week, reportedly after it was chased and 
beaten with sticks by a group of boys. The moose had to be destroyed.
Photograph by: Valerie Thorne

DEER LAKE, N.L. � Police are having trouble finding witnesses to an 
incident in which a moose was allegedly chased by three young boys and 
beaten with sticks Monday in this western Newfoundland community.

A day after giving that version of the incident to police, RCMP said 
Wednesday the same witnesses have apparently changed their story.

"If that moose was harassed, we would like to know," Sgt. Jacques 
Morneau said. "If it wasn't, we would like to know that, too. I don't 
know why people would come up with stories initially and then, all of a 
sudden, backtrack a bit."

That's not to say the police have ruled out the moose was chased, 
Morneau said.

He said RCMP interviewed the boys and several witnesses on Tuesday. 
They still have two or three more that they want to speak to.

"We are still looking at the witnesses that put these kids at the scene 
and if, in fact, (the boys) were there and if it was chased by them or 
not," he said.

"But we still have nobody telling us how the moose got there, so we 
still have some issues with the exact story and how it unfolded."

Morneau said it is unusual for a moose to end up in a yard and near 
death because it is exhausted.

"I'm not a wildlife specialist, but I don't know if it happens in 
nature that an animal gets so rattled and out of its element that it 
can get exhausted like that."

Valerie Thorne said the moose wound up in her yard, but she didn't see 
it enter her property and she didn't see marks or blood to show it had 
been beaten.

If it was chased into her yard, Thorne said, that would be 
unacceptable.

Thorne described how onlookers, including police and conservation 
officers, watched helplessly for two hours as the animal made several 
attempts to get up, only to fall back down.

"It was pretty tense," she said. "You wanted to help, but there was 
nothing you could do."

She said the crowd was trying to encourage the moose to get up.

"Some were upset nothing was being done to help it, but doing anything 
might have only done more damage than good. I knew what was going to 
happen because you could see its eyes turning red and it was foaming at 
the mouth."

When it was decided the moose was beyond recovery, it was put down by a 
conservation officer.

The boys may still face charges under the Wildlife Act if witnesses 
corroborate the original version of the events.

The incident comes the same week that a British Columbia sport fishing 
company disciplined an employee after an online video surfaced showing 
him smacking a dogfish on a ship's deck and throwing it overboard.

In another case this week, three Saskatchewan men were charged after a 
video was posted online showing them illegally shooting ducks and 
ducklings.