It wasn’t what Al and Leona Ritchie expected to wake up to: a moose in their Orléans backyard.
“There was a moose prancing around and having breakfast on our cedar hedges,” said Leona Ritchie.
Officials estimated the moose to be two years old and around 600 lbs.
Ottawa Police and NCC conservation officers were called to the yard in an area off Jeanne D’Arc Blvd. and the 174 to tranquilize the moose and relocate it to the Greenbelt.
They believe the moose arrived during the night and was in search of food. Officials treated a cut on its leg and tagged it before it was released back into the woods.
Ottawa Police Const. Santiago De Los Santos was one of the officers who responded to the call and said while moose calls aren’t uncommon in the area: “Usually they’re gone by the time we show up,” he said. “To actually have one sit and pose pretty in a backyard for us that’s not too common.”
