聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 The other day as I was going through my Facebook newsfeed a video began playing, if you scroll by it the image rolls on without the sound so you can choose to watch or not. The video was from British Columbia of an individual who jumped off of a boat and onto a moose, which many said was awesome and truly Canadian.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The moose is bounding through the water, attempting to get away from the people in the boat. As the boat creeps up on the moose, the moose stops, unable to go faster as the boat approaches. An individual then jumps off of the boat onto the moose.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The moose is submerged up to its shoulders and lets out a cry of helplessness. The moose begins to buck and gets the person off stressing the animal.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Some people who shared the video were touting it as a truly Canadian act, riding a moose. However, the majority of shares were regarding how it was wrong. Personally when I watched it, I just felt bad for the moose.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 People went on to argue that it was cool and that people ride wild animals all the time likening it to a rodeo. However, from the discussions I鈥檝e had with rough stock contractors, the animals are bred and readied for the show. In the early days of rodeo, years and years ago, it may have been the case that wild horses were used, but not anymore. The animals are prepared to go into the corral, are introduced to the chute, and properly prepared for the event because if they鈥檙e not, then maybe they won鈥檛 perform.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, no, jumping on a moose attempting to cross a body of water, up to its shoulders cannot be compared to the rodeo. Rodeo animals are considered high performance athletes, not a wild animal struggling through water.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 When the guy jumps onto the moose, she throws her head back and begins struggling not only against the water she鈥檚 trying to get across but is now 鈥� while feeling threatened 鈥� is stressed about a rider sitting on top of her. The moose was already in a vulnerable state, attempting to get away from a boat, when she is threatened by another animal 鈥� a person.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 A conservation officer in fact told CBC that it is the 鈥渦ltimate form of harassment,鈥� and with laws against harassing wildlife the video is being investigated.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The other problem I had with people saying that it was perfectly fine or awesome was that they used a hunting argument, which made no sense. People were agreeing that because we hunt and kill moose, that this is no big deal and that she鈥檇 be shot during the hunting season anyway.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 To me this only proved that people can be idiots. Feeding your family is one thing. Hunting is a sport and people who hunt are not going out there to create fear in the animal. In fact hunters say that if an animal was afraid that the meat tastes worse. A hunter鈥檚 goal is to get a clean kill; the animal is never scared and is not put through any excess pain. If a hunter misses their target they immediately track the animal to right their missed shot.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, again, no, riding a moose cannot be likened to hunting either.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The final argument I鈥檓 going to bring up was that riding the moose is the same thing as breaking a wild horse. Again, no, they are not the same thing. Wild horses were caught and broke because they needed them to do work. They were tamed and turned into a part of the ranch. A necessity on the frontier to survive, but this was not for survival the moose was simply a story to tell his buddies. The moose would have felt as though its life was at stake and become extremely stressed and frightened in that moment as if being followed by a boat wasn鈥檛 enough for the animal.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, it鈥檚 my opinion that riding the moose was not a truly Canadian thing to do. Canadians are supposed to be kind and respectful, so the Canadian thing to do would have been to respect wildlife.
