A Montana woman bravely bear-sprayed a moose after it ran into her yard, protecting her three pet dogs.
The woman, Shelly Thorburn, said: ‘I was fearful for sure, you know, because [the moose] was so big, and I’ve never had a big animal like that after me,’ in an interview with CNN.
Ring camera footage shared by Thorburn showed her take on the moose as it ran toward her and her three dogs outside a house in Big Sky, Montana, a rural mountainous area in the Rocky Mountains about an hour away from Yellowstone National Park.
The first time the moose ran up, Thorburn was startled to the point of tripping and falling over. The dogs ran away in an attempt to avoid the moose. The animal continued to approach a second time, briefly chasing one of the dogs.
After regaining her composure following her unexpected fall, Thorburn ran to grab a can of bear spray and used it to deter the large animal, which ended up being a successful endeavor.
According to CNN, the woman feared the most for Annie, her small 14-year-old dog which was the farthest from the house.
‘She’s deaf. She cannot hear and she’s visually impaired. So she did not know anything that was going on,’ Thorburn told CNN.
A few feet away, a small moose calf can be seen closer to the road. According to NBC Montana, the big moose that terrorized Thorburn’s dogs is the calf’s mother.
The moose charged at Thorburn’s dogs unexpectedly, stirring panic and chaos all around
The woman fell down after the moose startled her as it charged into her yard, causing her dogs to panic
Thorburn feared for her 14-year-old visually impaired dog the most when the moose ran into her yard
Moose are dangerous to humans and can get aggressive fast – they are also one of the largest animals in North America, falling second only to the American bison.
Just last month, Montana reported their first fatal moose attack in 20 years near Red Lodge, a little less than 200 miles from Thorburn’s home.
A 42-year-old man died when a moose impaled his brain through his left eye with its four-foot-long antlers, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported.
People just have to realize any wild animal is dangerous, especially this time of year. Moose are in full rut, searching for a mate. They are pretty aggressive,’ Carbon County Sheriff Luke Schroder told the outlet.
