A few days ago when some folks near Haines, Alaska, saw that a pregnant cow moose had fallen through the Chilkat River ice and couldn’t get out they didn’t just stand and watch. They used ropes, ingenuity and hard work to keep her from drowning and haul her up onto the solid ice.

These guys are real real Alaskan can-do types–a retired logger, a fisherman and equipment operator, a wildlife photographer and Presbyterian minister, and so on. They saw the problem and they took action–it was the right thing to do. There are a lot of reasons we choose to live in rural Alaska, and real folks like this are reason number one.

Rather than re-tell the story, I’ll post a couple of links:

• The Anchorage Daily News story, written by Tom Morphet (owner of the Chilkat Valley News in Haines,) and
• Freelance wildlife photographer Ron Horn’s website, with more pictures of the event.

Nice work, guys.

Photo: 3-week old moose calf along the Chilkat River last summer.