A heartbreaking scene from a car crash in Canada left one moose dead at the scene, but what paramedics discovered in a ditch nearby turned out to be a miracle.
Paramedic Jennifer Lemky and her team responded to the call during the middle of the night. She found a “demolished” car with the front smashed in and the windows shattered when she arrived at the scene, she told Newsweek via Instagram. Lemky began assessing the driver, who was walking outside when she learned the heartbreaking truth: he had hit a pregnant moose.
Unfortunately, the moose did not make it. Lemky said her guts sprayed all over the inside of the frame. The heart landed by the passenger side door. But the driver informed her that the baby was ripped from the mother during the impact, ending up in a nearby ditch.
She learned that the baby originally landed on the passenger’s lap, but the driver pulled the baby off, thinking he had also passed, and placed him on the side of the road. The driver noticed later that it had crawled off and into the ditch.
Once Lemky assured both the driver and passenger were safe, both of whom had non-life-threatening injuries, Lemky immediately went on the hunt to find the baby, and much to her surprise, he was alive.
“I found him in the ditch, and he was wet, soaking wet,” she said. “He was making these little baby noises. I ran back to the ambulance, grabbed a blanket and wrapped him up in it.”
From that point on, she made it her mission to rescue him and get the baby moose the care he needed. She shared the rescue mission on her Instagram account, @jenniferlemky, on May 27. The police and paramedics successfully transferred him to the conservation office.
Lemky rushed back to her farm and picked up goat milk for him. They worked to keep him warm and dry throughout the night until the wildlife rehabilitation center opened and could pick him up the next morning.
@jenniferlemky/TikTok
“When I saw the baby, my heart broke for him,” she said. “It really drove home the message to me that we are the caretakers of this planet and it’s our responsibility to take care of all the creatures on the planet.”
Lemky shared in a comment on the video that the wildlife rehabilitation center gave him a “sister,” who is another orphaned baby moose.
Viewer Reactions
As of Monday, the Instagram video reached over 163,000 views and 15,000 likes with viewers both heartbroken for the baby’s start to life, but thankful he made it through.
“I’m so glad they didn’t euthanize it like they would where I live!” commented one user.
A second person wrote: “Mama protected her little dude until the very end.”
Another added: “So glad that sweet baby had you guys.”