Wayward moose dies in Orleans

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It was certainly a Thanksgiving Day out of the ordinary for residents in the Fallingbrook neighbourhood of Orleans, as yet another wayward moose made its way through the backstreets. 

This time, however, the City reacted swiftly and contrary to some news reports, Ottawa’s new wildlife response team was on the scene quickly. 

According to one of the City’s wildlife officers, it was evident from the onset that the 2.5 year old bull moose was already in serious trouble:

“It was apparent that something was seriously wrong with the animal. It was heaving noticeably and its back legs were in constant motion indicating abdominal pain.”

Upon arrival, the wildlife response team noted that the bull appeared wet as if it had been swimming, although they believe it to be perspiration caused from over-exertion and stress. 

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According to the City’s lead wildlife officer – who asked not to be named due to contract restrictions – the Orleans moose situation was handled well and police who were first on the scene did everything correctly, unfortunately, the story did not have a happy ending. 

The wildlife officers had hoped that, since the animal was resting in a sheltered shady spot, it might recover. That, however, was not to be the case. 

“The moose stood up once in the next hour; turned 180 degrees and lay down again facing away. It expired approximately half an hour later.”  

Although wildlife officers extensively trained in the use of tranquilizers were at the ready – none were used in the situation because of the animal’s obvious distress and because it posed no immediate danger to the public. 

There is, however, some evidence to show the young bull may have been pursued by helicopter prior to its arrival in Orleans.  The City’s lead wildlife officer wants residents to know they should never, under any circumstance, chase wildlife and he urges the public not to harass game animals within City limits. 

It is unknown at this time if the moose was, in fact, being pursued by helicopter and whether that played any part in its death. It is clear that such an act would certainly exacerbate the situation; with an already stressed and confused animal. 

If you should spot any wayward wildlife within City limits, please call the City of Ottawa immediately so that the experts may be dispatched. Dial 3-1-1 or (613) 580-2400 

Outdoorsguy

44 thoughts on “Wayward moose dies in Orleans”

  1. sounds a bit like brain worm….. we had a officer tell us helocoptors dont bother moose .. this is after they buzzed our moose area as we had seen 3 bulls and cow and 2 calf pre season … we never did shoot a moose that year..

  2. Chessy, brain worm is the first thing I thought of actually…the typical symptoms of wandering, lethargy, loss of fear and even the difficulty in the hind quarters are all there…

    I don’t imagine an autopsy is being performed on the presences of nematodes in the brain so we may never know..but a few of the signs are there anyway.

    I have seen moose with brain worm before..as you probably have too Chess, and its not a pretty sight. I can recall a young cow years ago in the farm field behind my parent’s house..the poor thing wandered around and lay out there for two days before it finally died. I can only imagine the pain it was in.

    Outdoorsguy

  3. wow thought there would be more comments… must be alot of guys hunting moose now … cant wait till saturday

  4. Yeah..pretty quiet man..I can’t even get people going with a butterfly blog for God’s sake….hehe

    I guess Trapper is out the bush..Iggy, Alain and Keebler are off moose hunting..and I’m sure there are more too..oh well, its that time of year eh.

    What are your plans for Saturday, Chess? Tell me a story will ya!

    Outdoorsguy

  5. I am taking my daughter to the moose camp it has cost me a fortune… orthopedic single mattress(need it for week of moose and week of deer) all i am waiting for is the handicap permit from the doctor so i can drive in the park (not allowed to drive in Algonquin park must walk) to hunt if not she will have to go with another hunter in our camp … completely outfitting a teen aged daughter is expensive. Clothes boots vest socks hats that do not include the licence. She out grew everything thank god my son will be able to wear the stuff next year and i am real glade camo is unisex i will be taking her on her first moose hunt that she can go out by herself. But she will be in eyesight of someone at all times.

    1. Hey Chessy, all money and hassles aside, you are very fortunate to be able to do
      that with your daughter. I look forward to the day I can bring mine, but at 8 and 10-years old it will be a few years yet for me.

      Now when you speak of ‘driving in the Park’..do you mean ATV or car..or both? I sure hope you get that resolved in time as it would be special for the two of you to sit there together waiting for Bullwinkle to appear!

      You guys have a camp up there?

      Hey, its not reading week or anything, how’d you swing the time off school??

      Outdoorsguy

  6. most of my classes are at night .. i will be leaving at 5 for three days …. it is only 1.5 hours to park … i have exams that week.. so it is going to be a study time too (quieter than the house and definatly quiter than the library. reading week is the week after . no use of atv in the park only for game retrival only i will have to drive truck to my watch . she will have to walk to me, those are the rules of the park no one drives anything unless its a emergency or handicap . It is so peacefull up there, no one drives it is quite. The only time you hear a truck is a warden driving around… It is really the only place to hunt. you have to experience the hunt to know what i am talking about . our avarage hunt is about a 3-5 km walk to our watch on what we call moose mountain . if we go to the 4 mile marker it is a 7km walk one way all by foot

    1. Sounds nice Chess…I would think a spot like that would attract a lot of other hunters..has that ever been a problem?

      Outdoorsguy

  7. No, back i think in 1968 (again i think) there were only 99 camps alowed in the park right now there is only 60 or so left people just gave it up never renewed there park permit. (i guess every one got lazy and wanted to drive every where instead of hunting ) the next closest camp to us is about 5km up road and 6 km down road and no camp to the east of us, and one camp to the west of us but is not accessible due to Clyde creek. No way to get to them as they go in a differnt way … the only way we see a hunting is see them on the path . but we have a good group of guys they have certain this is your area, this is ours, and we may get together to do a push if is it slow. we are only allowed 12 members in our camp and this list must be for both deer and moose .. deer hunting there is no one there in the second week of deer season .

  8. any more info in the helicopter angle to this Jeff? kinda curious what that would be about if it were true. yes it is a busy time of year even for us unlucky ones not moose hunting. good luck hunting with your daughter chessy it’s a special feeling being with your child not just hunting itself but the whole experience. Have a blast!!

  9. Good Luck Chessy. Its funny, I envy the memories that all of you have had because I don’t have any of those. I am the first in my family to hunt, my father was a city slicker through and through and I didn’t get the opportunity to hunt until 4 or 5 years ago when a neighbor helped introduce it to me. Now even though I don’t have children, I can’t wait to share the experiences of being outdoors where the scratching of a chipmunk gets your blood running with excitement just because it could be a deer. I think its pretty safe to say even without experience, those memories will be priceless.

    1. Mark, we have a member of our hunt party who’s turning 40 and only starting hunting with us about 3 years ago. Like you, he always had an interest but neither his father nor older brother were into hunting, so it took my father’s invite to get John started…I guess you could say my Dad and I kind of mentored him and he has been very appreciative for it!

      Now John is a full fledged member of the gang..learning techniques and simple things us experienced hunters take for granted; like learning how to walk while out deer hunting, and communication within the group. He’s anxious to take his first deer!

      Mark, its great to see someone like yourself with such great aspirations and really no one there to push or encourage you…guess you are what one would call a ‘self motivator’…and lord knows we can use as many good hunting ambassadors as we can get!

      Hope you find some big North Bay bucks!!

      Regards

      Outdoorsguy

  10. Me too Igster….Surfaced for a breather and re stock on groceries. Saw 2 bulls and a cow (got to within 25 yards of the cow….) No tags for those though. Back at it this week for trapping opener, targeting mink and muskrat and checking others for primeness followed by 2 weeks of deer….Man, other than the weather it’s been a very relaxing and rewarding 2 weeks so far.

    1. Trapper, you had a chance to monitor the deer in your area? Any noticeable change over last year??

      Outdoorsguy

  11. For 10 months of the year they own me Oct and Nov the blackberry stays in the desk, If I could stretch that to include Dec I would.

    1. Trapper, that sounds like two months of heaven….imagine what all that fresh air can do for a man
      in his 40’s…..bet you feel like a kid again!!

      You’ll be one of those guys who does trap scouting while you walk the woods during deer season.

      Sounds like fun to me!

      Outdoorsguy

  12. Definate decline in numbers. Quality of the few we’ve seen so far however looks promising……

  13. maybe that was a little heavy LOL. do you trap through the whole winter, or pack up at ice up?

  14. This is my 3rd time trying to respond to your question. Short answer is we trap from Oct 25 to Apr 30 for various species. We try to have our beaver quota done by December to avoid having to cut through the ice.

    1. Come on Trap..you gotta bear with us..we’re trying to live vicariously through you right now!

      Outdoorsguy

  15. Sorry if that came accross harsh. I have no problem with the question. I just could’t respond. I typed 2 previous long winded answers and neither one showed up.

  16. You’ll see that my blog name appears in red. If you click on it you will be re-directed to a trapping forum where there’s tons of trapping conversations and pics. Come have a look.

    1. I will check out that site Trapper..is this strictly limited to ON or are there trappers from all over
      who contribute?

      Outdoorsguy

      1. Very well said SSDave..its so funny how we all basically enjoy the same things about deer camp and deer hunting…the camaraderie… team spirit…relaxation…visiting with family and friends we may not otherwise see…mentoring…being the woods…the challenge of taking a deer or two.

        I’d say those are all pretty great reasons!!

        Outdoorsguy

  17. Trap, in future if that happens…just pm the message to me directly and I’ll make sure it gets posted asap!

    So, you got one of those big bucks tied to a tree already?

    Outdoorsguy

  18. me too thanks trapper. i’ve had that problem with long responses before i think Jeff messes with them LOL

  19. Ok life is good now. I’m sitting in the trap cabin making this submission. Now all I have to do is get some remote cameras on the traps and I can check them from the comfort of the couch……hehe. No deer yet ODG. Set a few traps today just to see what’s prime. Picked up a road kill Fisher yesterday and he wasn’t anywhere near prime yet.

    1. Ok Trapper, how’d you pull that off…you have some sort of Network connection at the trap cabin?

      I’m impressed!

      Outdoorsguy

  20. It’s a bell version of a rogers stick. Took me a while to figure it out but once I did it’s simple as……..hang on gotta run to the outhouse….hehe

    1. Ok Trapper…yeah yeah…you have an outhouse, we get it..you’re out in the wilderness..I know…no need to brag eh!

      Outdoorsguy

      But obviously your have cell phone communication otherwise your Internet stick wouldnt work? We have one of those too..we use it at our trailer in the summer…from Virgin Mobile.

    2. Ok Trapper…yeah yeah…you have an outhouse, we get it..you’re out in the wilderness..I know…no need to brag ok!

      Outdoorsguy

      But obviously your have cell phone communication otherwise your Internet stick wouldnt work? We have one of those too..we use it at our trailer in the summer…from Virgin Mobile.

  21. Yah we have cel service. My days of roughin it in the far North are gone. You can take the boy out of the north but not the north out of the boy. Only an idiot wouldn’t cash in on some of the ammenities discovered by modern time….Kind of like Ice if you know what I mean

    1. Yeah I guess so eh…the only people who really complain are the ones who dont have running water(like me)…honestly though, it is nice to get back to basics now and again.

      Trapper, when would you expect Fisher to start putting on that winter coat?

      Outdoorsguy

  22. We don’t target Fisher until after the deer season just for that reason Jeff. They are usually pretty good by then. I picked up a road kill Fisher the other day and he wasn’t anywhere near prime.

    As for running water we have that too. It runs down stream every second right in front of the camp.

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