OSBORN – Two men from Maryland were taken to the hospital Thursday morning and a moose had to be put down after a car struck the animal on Route 9, according to police.

Stephen Couchman, 52, was driving a 2002 Isuzu west on the highway around 10 a.m. when the car hit the moose, Maine State Police Trooper Barry Curtis said Thursday.

Couchman and David Lintor, 48, were in the front seat when the moose rolled up onto the hood of the car and smashed the windshield, Curtis said.

Couchman had a broken nose and both men had fragments of glass in their faces and eyes, he said.

Karen Lintor, 43, and Catherine Couchman, 48, the wives of the men in the front seat, were in the back seat of the car at the time, according to Curtis.

All four people in the car were wearing seat belts when the accident occurred, he said.

Stephen Couchman and David Lintor were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, were treated and released, according to a hospital spokesperson.

The car was demolished in the wreck, Curtis said. The moose was euthanized at the accident scene by a Maine state warden, he said.