Call it a Christmas miracle: When a volunteer at the Northern Lights Wildlife Society saw a baby moose lying lifeless after being caught in a fence, he immediately called his bosses to alert them of the terrible news.
But while he spoke with Angelika and Peter Langen, the owners of the sanctuary in Smithers, B.C, something miraculous happened. The moose began moving.
“Peter and I raced to the site and found a calf in really bad condition,” Angelika Langen explained on the Northern Lights Facebook page. “It [had] obviously been stuck there for several hours.”
As Angelika and Peter worked on freeing the calf, its mother appeared from out of the woods.
When they saw her approach them, the Langens instinctually started backing away as mother moose can be quite aggressive. But the animal looked familiar and it dawned on Angelika: The mother was a moose by the name Rain, whom they had rescued back in 2011.
“I had tears welling up when I recognized Rain,” writes Angelika.
With Rain standing calmly beside them, the Langens worked on saving the moose.
“[She put] her complete faith in us to help her son. We are so humbled by her trust and comprehension,” writes Angelika.
In no time, the little guy was back on his feet and limped off with his mother. Save for a few bruises, exhaustion, and a bit of missing fur, the calf suffered no injuries.
Since then, the Langens have been monitoring the calf and he is doing well alongside his mother. He’s doing so well, in fact, that he’s even back to jumping over fences.
The Northern Lights Wildlife Society is now monitoring the baby moose.
Peter Langen and the mother moose, Rain.
Mother moose Rain and her son the day after the rescue.