Sudbury's Wild at Heart, cares for abandoned moose calf

On mobile? View here

Working in an animal rescue centre can be very rewarding, but also very hard if an animal doesn't make it.

Last week, the Wild at Heart Refuge Centre in Lively in Greater Sudbury, took in two moose calves.

The centre's animal care supervisor said the first calf came in early in the week, after it was found wandering on the highway south of Sudbury.

"They tried all day to find the mom [but] there was no mom around," Alicia Irwin said.

The calf was very young, so young in fact the umbilical cord was still attached to him and wet, she said.

"He was probably about two days old, but he was good" she said."He was vocalizing. His legs were pretty wobbly but he was doing pretty good."

The calf, who has since been namedJessie, is now drinking lots of formula and going for walks two times a day.

Irwin said for how old Jessie is, he's quite advanced.

"They're in a critical period for the first three months," she explained.

"They're really susceptible to infection, so, I don't want to be too optimistic but he's doing really well right now."

Second moose calf arrives

Later in the week, the centre received a call one night that a truck driver had just hit a pregnant moose.

"She had twins, and I guess she was expelled from her when he hit her," Irwin said."So the one calf was dead and the one calf was still alive."

The driver cleared the airway of the calf, put it in his truck and called his wife to help him make arrangements for the young calf.

Irwin said it's not common for a young calf to survive a situation like that and added when the centre got the calf, it was still wet 'from the fluids from mom.'

Staff at the centre worked to warm the calf up and when a vet came in, the calf was given fluids, she said. He had injuries from the collision.

Irwin said they cared for the calf throughout the weekend, but said he wasn't doing well on Sunday night.

"When we went to do the evening tube feeding, he was unconscious," she said."We tried giving him some sugars to perk him up."

The calf's temperature was taken, and Irwin said it was very high so ice packs were brought in to help cool him down. Despite their effort, the calf died not long after.

"We had only checked his temperature a couple hours earlier and he was fine," she said."So it was really quick, all of a sudden, he just crashed."

Last year, the centre lost a moose calf and Irwin said she told herself she wasn't going to work with calves this year as a result.

"It's really hard, but once they come in, [you] can't stay away," she said."It's often times not a good story in the end, but we're hopeful."

Irwin said the centre has released two moose calves in the past into the wild, and added she hopes that number will rise. She said maybe Jessie will be the next one to be released.

"He's doing amazingly well," she said."I'm hoping he pulls through."