A Maine couple heading out for a day of fishing happened upon a scene fit for a nature documentary: A moose calf running for its life with a large black bear in pursuit.
Elvia and Todd Malcolm were in Telos Township, Maine, about an hour or so from their home in Lincoln, when they saw a female moose along the edge of a wooded area before she turned down a side road.
“I said to Elvia, I said, ‘Grab your phone because you’re going to get a chance to get a picture of a moose,’” Todd Malcolm told The Associated Press.
They parked their truck to watch the moose and noticed she seemed agitated and was grunting as if calling to a calf.
Suddenly, the calf and bear charged out of the trees heading straight toward them. Todd Malcolm said there was no doubt in his mind that the bear would catch the calf and decided not to let nature take its course that day.
“I put the truck in drive and I just stepped on the gas,” he said, explaining that he wasn’t trying to hurt the bear, just trying to put the truck between the bear and the calf. “I knew what I had to do and I just did it.”
The bear jumped to the side and streaked off, Todd Malcolm said, “Boom, gone, right in the woods.”
His wife was happy and relieved they were able to intervene.
This is the same kind thinking of those people that “saved” the whale in Germany.
But it’s not about us, humans, how we feel about it.
We are not the center of things and shouldn’t assume that our feelings or morals are ultimate and above all else.
We have to treat all species with respect and leave them alone.
Unless they choose us, like cats and dogs did, for example.
Just because we cross paths, wild animals are not suddenly our concern.
Not sure what you are referring to. Link?
timmy the whale
Not sure if paywalled. Never was for me, but some seem to get one.
Edit: here’s another
Thanks for the article.
To me this does not seem like the same situation at all.
The situation in OP was people unexpectedly coming upon a flight or fight situation. They make an immediate decision that saving the baby is the right thing to do. Humans have evolved to have a soft spot for babies, even if different species.
I don’t think it’s even a little surprising that most humans would react this way in this situation. They weren’t able to speculate about what they should do beforehand, they weren’t sitting comfortably at their keyboard, they had to made a quick decision, and they chose to save a life.