Snowmobilers pick up shovels to rescue moose buried in snow

Jan. 4 (UPI) -- A group of Newfoundland snowmobilers that came across a moose buried up to its head in the snow wielded shovels to free the animal from its predicament.

Photos and a video posted to Facebook by the Sledcore snowmobiling riding clinic shows the group of about eight people using their shovels to dig through the snow and free the trapped moose.

"You could tell he was frantically trying to get out of the hole that he had himself in," Jonathan Anstey, co-owner of Sledcore, told CBC News.

Anstey said the group didn't feel like they were in danger from the moose.

"It's an up to 1,000-pound animal and they can do quite some damage," he said. "But considering his back legs were down in the mud hole we knew he couldn't get out quickly and bust out to trample us."

He said it took about 15 minutes of digging to free the moose.