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Orphaned Moose Killed In Montana Causes Outrage On Social Media

By Regina Avalos
Published on: 04:53 PST, Jun 5, 2015

An orphaned moose killed in Montana earlier this week is now making headlines. A man camping in the woods of Montana found the orphaned moose near its dead mother, and he did his best to console and help the young moose, according to RT News. The death of this animal is causing people to share their outrage on social media.

Josh Hohm decided to call in the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and he waited for several hours for the officials to arrive. During that time, he stayed with the calf and kept it calm. His mother had died while giving birth, and a second calf, stillborn, was also at the location.

Hohm wishes he had never placed that call now though. Once the officials arrived on scene, the baby moose was “taken care of” by the personnel, but not in the way he thought they would take care of the young animal. The Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks officials killed the calf, and they blew up its body with the bodies of its mother and sibling.

Hohm shared more about the incident with KXLH.

“When I left the animal in their care… very shortly after, they shot it in the head. They didn’t remove it from the premises, there were no tests taken, they simply waited for me to leave and they dispatched the animal. Really, all they needed to do was provide some food for the little guy. I called them for help and I guess I expected them to do a little bit more than just shoot the calf and detonate the body. These guys are on our payroll to oversee the protection and well-being of these animals and this is how we ‘manage wildlife?’ It’s quite disheartening.”

Andrea Jones, from the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Department, spoke about the incident. The department will not rehabilitate a moose.

“Moose can carry chronic wasting disease which can be very devastating to populations; it’s also very dangerous to humans. This animal was dispatched, but it would have been euthanized if it had been taken to our office, it would have starved to death without its mother.”

KULR shared a statement that explains Jones’ last comment.

“[MT FWP] also said the nursing calf needs the colostrum from its mother’s milk to build up its immune system and without that, it would surely get sick and die. Considering all of this, Montana FWP said shooting the calf was really more of a mercy killing, as they were saving the calf from starvation and suffering in the future.”

The handling of this baby moose has shocked many. People are sharing their outrage on social media.

Another baby animal did have a luckier fate. According to another Inquisitr story, the mother of a rare white-faced deer abandoned it shortly after birth. The deer is now living at Deer Tracks Junction in Cedar Springs, Michigan. It was kept alive and is being raised at the location. The deer has been named Dragon, and it is now 2-weeks old.

Hillary Powell explained a bit about this rare deer.

“Normally they have a black nose. It’s actually a detriment in the wild because if they don’t have shade, their nose is very sensitive to the sun and can get sun burn.”

What do you think about how Montana officials handled the baby moose? Should officials have tried to help the animal live?

[Photo by Michael Smith/Getty Images]

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