A Canadian man has been fired from his job after saving an adorable baby moose from being mauled by a black bear by leaving it in the front seat of his company truck.
Mark Skage rescued a baby moose from the side of a busy road in British Columbia, Canada. Consequently, he was fired by his employer, AFD Petroleum Inc., who let him go for breaking wildlife protocols.
Skage says that despite knowing that handling wild animals is illegal, he thinks he did the right thing; however, he did not expect to lose his job over it.
“I just couldn’t do it, in my heart… Black bears are the number one predator for those calves,” Skage told CBC. “So I thought, ‘Well, I can’t take care of the predator, but I guess maybe I can try to help this little calf.’
Skage told CBC News that she noticed the calf alone on the side of the road, with no mother in sight. After witnessing several vehicles on the road nearly run over the calf, he stopped and attempted to scare the animal off the side of the road.
Mark Skage rescued a baby moose from the side of a busy road in British Columbia, Canada
The Canadian man was fired from his job after saving an adorable baby moose from being mauled by a black bear by leaving it in the front seat of the company truck. He said that he joined the animal in his car.
Skage says that despite knowing that handling wild animals is illegal, he believes he did the right thing, however, he did not expect to lose his job over it.
But when the car door opened, the calf trotted quickly, trying to climb into the truck, and Skage couldn’t resist leading the young moose.
‘She and I bonded on the way home. I mean, geez, we spent like five and a half hours together in the van,” Skage told CBC News.
Skage then noticed a black bear in the area. He felt compelled to help the elk calf, knowing that bears are a major predator.
40 percent of elk calves in certain areas are killed by black bears, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, some
“After the second time he tried to get in, I looked across the road, I just looked over there, and halfway down the ditch, maybe like 50 yards, there was a black bear standing there,” Skage said.
He waited a while, hoping the mother cub would scare the bear away, but when that didn’t happen, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
She called the BC Conservation Officer Service while driving to find a safe place for the calf to stay.
Eventually, he took the calf to a wildlife rehabilitation center.
Skage acknowledged that interfering with nature isn’t always the best course of action, but he believed this was a special case.
He later discovered that the calf was female and, in his eyes, saving her meant preserving a lineage of future moose.
When the car door opened, the calf trotted quickly, trying to climb into the truck, and Skage couldn’t resist leading the young moose.
He waited a while, hoping the mother cub would scare the bear away, but when that didn’t happen, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
She called the BC Conservation Officer Service while driving to find a safe place for the calf to stay.
‘It wasn’t just a baby elk that God saved. It was a lot… She will grow up and have many babies, and her babies will have babies. I think she is a positive. I believe it in my heart.
However, AFD Petroleum Inc., the company Skage worked for, had a different perspective.
AFD Petroleum officials criticized Skage for making “the independent decision to transport an unharmed moose calf, a wild animal, in the front seat of his company vehicle for many hours,” causing “distress and potential harm to the moose.”
“Rather than report the situation to a conservation officer and allow authorities to handle the rescue and relocation of the moose, the individual made an independent decision to transport an uninjured moose calf, a wild animal, in the front seat of the company vehicle for long hours,’ AFD Petroleum Chairman Dale Reimer said in an emailed statement.
“This not only put the employee and other road users at risk, but also caused distress and damage to the moose,” they added.
They considered his actions a violation of wildlife interaction protocols and expressed concern for the safety of his employee and others on the trail, as well as possible harm to the elk calf.
The BC Conservation Officers Service is investigating the incident, while Skage, who has experience with wildlife, acknowledged that what he did was illegal and dangerous.
Eventually, he took the calf to a wildlife rehabilitation center.
AFD Petroleum officials criticized Skage for making “the independent decision to transport an unharmed moose calf, a wild animal, in the front seat of his company vehicle for many hours,” causing “distress and potential harm to the moose.”
They considered his actions a violation of wildlife interaction protocols and expressed concern for the safety of his employee and others on the road, as well as possible harm to the elk calf.
The BC Conservation Officers Service is investigating the incident, while Skage, who has experience with wildlife, acknowledged that what he did was illegal and dangerous.
He warned against handling wild animals and stressed the need to report sick or injured animals to the proper agencies.
WildSafeBC program manager Lisa Lopez told CBC News that aside from the legality issue, managing wildlife on your own is dangerous.
‘These animals are wild animals, you know, we don’t know what kind of reaction they’re going to have, you don’t know what kind of animal is around. The mothers of the young are going to protect their young,” he told CBC.
‘And so, always the best idea is to do the best you can to get away. Provide space. If you can, keep an eye on the animal and then call the experts to make sure, but definitely keep a space between you and that animal,” he added.
