What to do if there's a moose at your door? This B.C. woman had to figure it out
Surprise visitor trapped Chelsea Coles outside of her house in -30 C weather
When Chelsea Coles opened her door on Monday morning, it took her brain a while to figure out what was going on.
Despite temperatures well below -30 C when factoring in the wind chill, a blast of heat hit her instead.
And then she saw the moose.
"I scared her, she scared the crap out of me, I jumped back, she jumped up, and the deck was really slippery, so she was sliding all around," Coles said, speaking from her home in Fort St. John, in northeastern B.C.
"I could have reached out and touched her," though what she actually did was "slam the door and screamed. It was terrifying."
But Coles had to get on with her day, so she grabbed a shovel and started shooing the moose away. Eventually, it started going down the road, which meant the problem was solved — or so she thought.
"I came home, and she was nuzzled up, laying down at my front door again," Coles said.
She called the Conservation Officer Service, which told her that so long as the moose wasn't being aggressive, she should just wait it out.
And so Coles did, sitting in her car for an hour in freezing weather, hoping the moose would eventually move. She also snapped some pictures and posted them to Facebook, looking for advice.
"Everyone was like, 'You gotta make noise,'" she said, so she found an extension cord and started banging it around.
"She did not like that... she wasn't being aggressive, but she walked past me, down my driveway and kind of left."
That still wasn't the end of it, as the moose continued to hang around for another "six or seven hours" in her yard and at her neighbour's house, eating part of a tree before eventually heading back into the woods.
According to WildSafe B.C., the provincial conservation foundation, moose are not generally aggressive and tend to avoid urban areas but can be attracted to gardens and trees as a source of food.
The majority of injuries from moose are caused by vehicle collisions, but the animals can pose a danger if threatened, weighing between 300 to 600 kilograms and up to two metres tall — twice as large as a grizzly bear.
The animals are not an uncommon sight in northern B.C., particularly around Fort St. John, which is surrounded by wilderness.
WildSafe says moose should never be approached and always given an escape route, warning they can move quickly and will lower their heads and flatten their ears before charging.
Coles said she was never worried the moose would attack her, and she kept her distance with the car nearby.
Overall, she said, the moose seemed to be in good health so is hopeful with the weather warming, her surprise visitor will remain out in the wild.
"She was definitely really cute."
