Moose entertains Calais residents

CALAIS – What appeared to be an injured moose that may have entered the state “illegally” from Canada and last was seen running through Calais Thursday afternoon may have survived its swim back across the swollen St. Croix River.

Rain pelted the area Thursday. It was not a great day for a swim.

While public works employees were running around Washington County putting up barricades on small sections of washed-out roads, it appears the young moose decided to sneak into the country and take a look around.

What was not known was whether the baby bull entered at the Milltown or Ferry point bridges, which connect Calais with St. Stephen, New Brunswick, or swam across the St. Croix River.

The nation’s border guards, however, who now work for the Department of Homeland Security, take any entry into the country very seriously, including entries by water.

“It did not apply for its green card,” an unidentified immigration officer said Thursday. “It wasn’t allowed in, so we allowed it to withdraw its application and return to Canada.”

Eyewitnesses reported seeing the moose on the Calais side of the river shortly after noon running along the former railroad tracks that are parallel with the river.

Amanda Tirrell of Calais said that at 1:20 p.m. she saw the young moose on Union Street. “It was about 15 to 20 feet from my house,” she said. “And just before I was ready to pull into my driveway, I had to lock up my brakes or I was going to hit him.”

Tirrell said it looked injured. “It looked like it had a big red spot on the side of its head. It looked like something protruding from it. There was definitely something dripping. That’s how close I was,” she said.

She said the moose ran toward Poole Street.

Jim Martin of the Maine Warden Service investigated. Asked about the injury, he said if it was a young bull, it could have injured the area of the head where its antlers are growing.

“It could have been a small bull with its first set of horns, and they are starting antler growth, and it doesn’t take much to get them bleeding. That’s just an assumption,” he said. “They are very easily damaged. It’s a layer of skin with velvet that’s nourished from the outside. It’s soft tissue while that antler is growing. It’s fairly sensitive.”

Martin said that at this time of year, cows getting ready to calve tend to kick last year’s youngster out of the nest. “So they typically give them the boot in the springtime, drive them off because they want to be alone while they’re calving,” he said.

The warden said it was a dangerous time for young moose. “They go off into unknown territory, and somehow, that young moose ended up down in that area. Hopefully, it will make it back to the woods,” he said.

He said moose were strong swimmers. “It takes a long time for the cold water to bother them, so that’s really not an issue,” he said.

Bill Kilby at Hardwicke’s Country Store on Main Street picked up the story. “I was standing in the office … the moose goes flying by the window. We went running out the back door. It came across the road, down to the parking lot, into the river and swum toward Canada,” he said. He said it was really running. “It was flying at 100 mph,” he said. “I just saw it flash by the window.”

Kilby said he was told it had been hanging around Milltown, New Brunswick, just north of St. Stephen on Thursday. “Somebody said it was up … by the school there,” he said. “It’s a Canadian moose and he went back home. I wonder if it cleared customs or not.”

Police officials in Canada confirmed they had a report of a young moose hanging around the Milltown Elementary School on Thursday. When they went to investigate, the moose was gone.

Trooper Micah Perkins of the Maine State Police saw it from his office at the Tourist Information Center on Hog Alley. It was in the middle of the river, its head bobbing in the high waves.

Although an eyewitness said it looked as if the moose did not make it, a short time later there was a report that the moose was back in Canada.