What started as a day working on some vehicles turned into a daring, dangerous rescue of a giant animal stuck in ice for a Manitoba man.
On Tuesday, Russ Popp, 65, received a call from a friend who said there was a chance a moose was stuck in ice on Bird River.
Debating whether he should go check it out or not, Popp’s wife convinced him to go down.
“So we drive three miles down the road, and sure enough, there’s a moose struggling to get out of the ice,” said Popp.
Popp knows the area well, saying he has never once wanted to cross the river, as the ice can be very thin from beaver and otter activity.
“It’s always dangerous,” said Popp. “Here I am thinking about going to save this moose, April 21, and I’m not much liking that idea.”
Despite his concerns, he knew he couldn’t leave the moose in that state, adding he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he left.
He called conservation to let them know what he was about to do and then grabbed his watercraft and went out to test the ice.
Three conservation officers showed up a short time later, and after determining the ice was safe for them, they went to work.
“There’s only one way we’re getting this moose out of the ice. We got to chop ice to get to the north side because that’s the way it wants to go,” said Popp. “But to our surprise, we had 100 yards of ice to chop.”
Popp called the process exhausting, saying they were only able to clear a few inches at a time. At points, he said it felt like there wasn’t any hope of ending this rescue on a positive note.
“It was a dangerous situation, and it seemed impossible.”
Eventually, they chipped enough ice away and were able to get some rope around the moose and slowly pulled it out of the water.
“Finally, he got up on that ice, laid his ears back, just to let us know, ‘You better not get close to me,’ and then he ran off into the bush and we were home free.”
Popp noted it took several hours to get the moose out—he was called around noon and the moose was free around 4:30 p.m.
After the rescue, Popp joked that he slept quite well that night.
He called the whole experience an adrenaline rush.
“This is my thing. Other people get excited over a hockey game. I mean, I don’t get it. I’m sorry…So this is my thing,” said Popp, who ranked this wildlife encounter a 10 out of 10.
Popp, who is an avid hunter and retired big game outfitter, said part of being a hunter is also focusing on conservation.
Moose have not been hunted in the area for 20 years, but Popp noted they are facing a lot of other issues, from brain worms and wood ticks to predators and the massive wildfire season last year that wiped out part of their habitat.
“We had this fire come 500 metres from our house. We were evacuated for 35 days. We were in a tough situation. We know what it’s like to lose a habitat,” he said.
When it came down to it, Popp knew it was something that had to be done.
“If we can save one moose at a time, if that’s what we got to do to keep it going, we will.”
