Traffic came to a standstill on a quiet Sunday morning in Clam Gulch, Alaska — but it wasn’t because of an accident or road construction. It was something far more unexpected: a mother moose and her calf were struggling to cross the highway.
The pair had made it halfway across when the young calf hit a roadblock — literally. Too tired to climb over the guardrail, the little moose kept getting turned around, while his anxious mother paced nearby, unable to help. Drivers watched in silence as the calf tried again and again to find a way across.
Andrea Bock, who was sitting in the line of cars, observed the situation unfold for about 20 minutes. Each time the calf edged closer to the end of the barrier, the mother gently guided him back to the middle — the area furthest from the cars. “I think the reason the mother kept bringing him back to the center was because it was the section where there were no cars,” Bock told The Dodo.
That’s when Joe Tate, who was returning home from a fishing trip with friends, decided to step in.
After nearly 30 minutes of back-and-forth pacing and a growing line of cars, Tate carefully waited for just the right moment. While the mother moose was temporarily out of view on the other side of the highway, Tate darted out, scooped up the tired calf, and gently lifted him over the guardrail to safety.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Bock said. “He moved so quickly and carefully, and it all happened in an instant.”
Approaching a wild moose — especially a protective mother — is incredibly risky. But Tate and his friends had devised a clever plan to distract the mother using their trailer to block her view, giving Tate just enough time to act.
“At the time, I didn’t realize his friends were helping distract the mother,” Bock added. “I was nervous for him. I thought he was just hoping the mom wouldn’t see him.”
Fortunately, the plan worked. The calf, completely worn out, seemed to understand Tate’s intentions and didn’t resist. “He looked so tired he practically walked into his arms,” Bock said. “It was pretty cool.”
Thanks to the quick thinking and compassion of a few strangers, the little moose was safely reunited with his mom, and the pair made their way off the road and back into the wild.
“It could have gone bad, and I understand that,” Tate told KTUU. “But it all worked out for the best — and it was worth the risk.”
