Forest officials blow up baby moose after concerned camper tells them it lost its mother

Josh Hohm found the moose calf after its mother died

A moose calf (Mike Vogel/Creative Commons )

When a man in Montana spotted a newborn moose calf at a camp site, he told the authorities so they could save the vulnerable creature’s life. Instead, he was shocked to find that officials killed the animal, and blew up its remains along with its mother’s.

Josh Hohm, from the city of Bozeman, was camping at the West Boulder Campground in the Gallatin National Forest, near Yellowstone National Park, when the moose walked up to him.

At first he was worried that the newborn’s mother would be close by and would attempt to aggressively protect her calf, but Hohm soon found her carcass lying beside a still born baby, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported.

Realising the baby moose would be left to fend for itself, he took care of the creature and reported the incident to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MT FWP).

But instead of rehoming the calf, officials ordered it be killed, and US Forest Service were sent in to destroy the three carcasses with explosives.

“There were absolutely no steps taken to determine if it was sick, was it going to feed, were there facilities and resources available to care for this thing,” Hohm told local broadcaster KXLH.

“These guys are on our payroll to oversee the protection and well being of these animals and this is how we 'manage wildlife.' It's quite disheartening,” he added.

However, Andrea Jones, a spokeswoman for MT FWP, told KXLH affiliate KRTV that while bears and raptors can be rehabilitated, taking the same action with moose, elk or deer risks spreading a chronic wasting disease that be very dangerous to humans.

She went on to explain that the decision to use explosives is not done often, but it was not possible to use heavy equipment or pack the carcasses out of the area.

Jones added the animal would have starved to death if it had been left in the woods.