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A Maine couple used their pickup truck to save a moose calf from a charging bear during a routine fishing trip Thursday, helping reunite the young animal with its mother.
Todd Malcolm told The Associated Press he believed the bear would catch the calf unless he intervened.
“I knew what I had to do and I just did it,” Malcolm said.
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The encounter began when Todd and Elvia Malcolm spotted a female moose near the edge of the woods in Telos Township, Maine, and pulled over hoping to snap a photo.
“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 said.
After parking their truck, the couple noticed the moose appeared unusually agitated — and, as it turned out, for good reason.
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Moments later, a bear and the moose calf burst from the woods and sprinted directly toward their truck, they told the AP.
Todd Malcolm said he was convinced the bear would catch the vulnerable calf and decided to intervene.
“I put the truck in drive and I just stepped on the gas,” he said.
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Malcolm said he didn’t want to hurt the bear and only intended to put the truck between the predator and the calf.
His plan worked, and the bear darted to the side of the road before disappearing back into the woods.
“Boom, gone, right in the woods,” he said.
The ordeal was just as nerve-racking for Elvia Malcolm.
“My heart was racing because I did not want to witness the bear catching the calf,” she told the AP. “As soon as the calf got past the truck and we were able to get the bear to give up the chase, I looked up the road and saw that they were together, the mom and the calf.”
Despite the chaos, Elvia Malcolm said she still managed to capture several photographs of the dramatic encounter.
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“I really thought I probably got like a bug on the windshield when I started to look at them,” she said. “I took them through the front windshield of the truck. I wasn’t outside the truck. No way was I getting outside the truck.”
The couple later continued their fishing trip after watching the moose calf reunite with its mother.