Couple capture video of moose licking their car at Alberta park

KANANASKIS, Alberta, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- A couple out searching for wildlife in Alberta had an unexpectedly close encounter when a moose decided to lick the salt from their car.

Alberta Parks issued a warning last week alerting visitors to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park that moose have been seen in the area licking the salt from cars in the Chester Lake and Burstall Pass parking lots, so Theresa and C.J. Malan decided the park might be a good place to start their wildlife search Thursday.

"[C.J.'s] new to Canada, so every time that we have the opportunity to we'll take a drive out and look for wildlife," Theresa told the Bow Valley Crag & Canyon. "We're very respectful of animals and we wouldn't have intruded on the moose's space. We just wanted to spot a moose."

She said they had just passed Chester Lake and were turning around when they spotted the moose, estimated by experts to be 3 to 4 years old, walking from a clearing to a nearby car, where it started licking the salt from the vehicle.

The couple parked and the moose soon turned its attention on their car.

Theresa posted a video to Instagam showing the moose licking the salt from the front of their vehicle.

She said the moose spent about 30 minutes licking the salt.

"It was totally unexpected," she said. "He was totally gentle, totally chill -- it was a really cool experience."