When Angie Tuffnell ventured outside in Bienfait, Sask., the biting wind chill of -40 degrees made it feel like an ordinary day turned treacherous. Her son, Shawn Tuffnell, rushed downstairs upon hearing her cries, only to witness a startling scene with a moose looming over his mother.
The malnourished and freezing moose sought refuge next to the warm air emanating from a dryer vent against the house, leading to a sudden and vicious attack on Angie.
In a frantic turn of events, Shawn boldly decided to confront the aggressive animal face-to-face. His initial reaction was impulsive as he recounted, “My first instinct — that I didn’t think too well on — I walked out and punched it right in the face,” he shared with CBC’s The 306.
Despite splitting the moose’s lip with his blow, it continued its assault, narrowly missing Shawn’s face as it lunged. Armed with a shovel, Shawn struck the moose repeatedly, but the resilient animal persisted in its aggression.
Retreating back inside, Shawn found the moose following closely behind, even pushing its front shoulders through the doorframe in pursuit. “He was right in the house floor … trying to get me,” Shawn recounted.
When the moose redirected its focus towards his mother, still trapped on the frozen ground, Shawn took drastic action by grabbing the moose by its ears and nostrils. Wrestling the animal into a headlock, he pinned its jaw against his body to prevent being bitten, using the doorframe as a barrier against the hooves.
“I didn’t care what it was doing to me,” Shawn expressed. “All I could think was just getting him blind so he couldn’t see her anymore.”
Survival instincts
The terrifying ordeal only concluded when Angie’s boyfriend arrived with a .22-calibre rifle. Shawn took the firearm and fired multiple shots to subdue the moose.
Initially targeting the moose’s eye to divert its attention from his mother, Shawn reloaded and continued shooting until the animal finally succumbed. “I think give or take 15 bullets. I finally dropped him,” Shawn recounted.
A subsequent post-mortem examination by the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative confirmed the moose’s demise from “multiple gunshot wounds to the head,” with one fatal shot penetrating its brain.
The examination validated Shawn’s suspicion of the moose’s weakened state, revealing the animal had “no remaining fat stores.”
Devoid of rabies or chronic wasting disease, the moose’s actions were attributed to extreme hunger and a desperate search for warmth.
“He was hungry and starving,” Shawn emphasized. “He was in survival mode.”
