A Fredericton couple had some unexpected visitors in their backyard over the weekend, and there’s evidence of the encounter on video and in their fence.
Mary and Don Goodine live on the city’s north side near the Brookside Mall.
On Sunday, they were just about to head out for breakfast, when they saw a large moose and her calf “sauntering around” in their fenced-in yard.
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“We had to look twice because we thought that can’t be a moose, right?” said Mary Goodine.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘Nobody is going to believe there’s two moose in my dooryard.”
They watched the pair for about 15 minutes before deciding to venture out. The Goodines were unsure how the moose got inside their yard and wanted to make sure the animals could escape through the only opening in the fence by heading down the driveway.
“We didn’t want them to get hurt. They’re majestic. They’re big,” she said. “I just didn’t want to get between the mother and the baby and Donnie didn’t want to either because we didn’t want them to get upset.”
Mary began recording the encounter, as her husband tried to direct the animals down the driveway.
But in the end, the moose had their own plans.
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The mother moose jumped over the family’s fence — taking part of it down in the process — while her calf ran in the other direction.
“There’s no blood or fur so I don’t think she was injured in any way,” Mary said.
The couple believes the two moose met up again in the woods and were not injured. Meanwhile, they have an interesting tale and video to share.
“It’s just a plain old ‘I-can’t-believe-that-happened’ story,” she said.