Moose gets police escort through St. John's streets during state of emergency
Tall snow banks led moose to centre of city
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has been tasked with odd jobs throughout the state of emergency in St. John's, but escorting a moose off city streets might be the strangest one yet.
Police were called to the centre of the city Wednesday night after receiving several calls about a moose trotting down Cashin Avenue.
They followed the moose in a truck with lights flashing, guiding it toward a wooded area as onlookers stared in amazement.
"He looked like he owned the city," said Gen Escobar, who managed to snap a few photos as the moose trotted past her.
Jason McDonald captured this video Wednesday night:
It's not unheard of for moose to come into the city, but Escobar said she was still surprised when she realized the four-legged figure barrelling toward her wasn't a horse.
"There's just like, walls of snow 10 feet high all around us, and then a moose running towards us, and we're like, you know what, that's not the weirdest thing that's happened this week," she said. "It just went with the whole snowpocalypse theme that we've been having."
St. John's has been hit with nearly a metre of snow since Friday, and police said the moose was struggling with high snowbanks, leading it to take main roads into the middle of the city.
It was spotted in several locations, including Long's Hill and Empire Avenue.
About 40 kilometres away in a more rural setting, Holyrood resident Elizabeth Clairmont found a moose in her backyard, perched high upon a snowbank and chewing on the branches of her apple tree.
The curious beast was only a few feet away from walking onto the roof of her house.