Photo: Contributed - Dana Cave

When Dana Cave set out just before 4 a.m. for the Lower Mainland last Friday, he never imagined he would make the news, or that a surprise accident would cost the life of a moose in downtown Kelowna.

Cave was on his way to Chilliwack for work. His friend and passenger, Doug Adams, had just driven down from Vernon, and the two jumped in Cave's truck to head to the Coast.

Cave was driving his GMC crew cab west along Highway 97, between Harvey and Burtch, when they saw traffic slow.

“We were in the inside lane on the left, alongside the median, and there was a street sweeper beside me and a vehicle behind me,” explains Cave.

“We looked up front and saw about 15 cars ahead, pretty close to the Spaghetti Factory, going slower – no brake lights or anything, and we saw a few vehicles pull over. So we started looking around wondering what the heck was going on.”

Cave says they were looking all over and began to slow down. He believes they had slowed to about 40 km/h.

“Just out of the corner of my eye, about a 45-degree angle to the front of truck, the moose just came out of nowhere and right into the front of my truck,” says Cave. “All of a sudden it was there.”

The truck slammed into the animal, and it ended up on the hood. “I thought (it) was dead at first.”

He pulled over, and “three or four minutes later, the moose put its head up and was looking around and tried to stand up, but the back end was too broken,” says a solemn Cave.

Moments later, emergency crews arrived and checked over Cave and Adams. They were sore, but had no serious injuries.

The hardest part, says Cave, was hearing the police put down the suffering moose.

“While we were in the ambulance, all of a sudden a fray of shots come,” says Cave. “Three different rounds of shots ... I guess because of the small-calibre handguns.

“That was the worst part of the whole thing was to see that.”

Cave says the moose was at least 1,000 pounds and eight feet tall at the head.

He's frustrated by comments he has read on social media and on the story itself.

“Some of these trolls that comment just don't get it,” says Cave.

He's frustrated that people believe police were in some way inhumane.

“They cannot shoot it in the head because ... if they miss, or it ricochets off and hits the pavement and there are people close by. They have to ... try for a heart shot to end the poor thing's suffering.”

Cave says he did the best he could in the situation. He says it was a combination of dark conditions, trees along the median, blind spots and the surprise itself.

"It just came out of nowhere,” says Cave. “There were lots of things to block my view ... it was a perfect situation for an incident like that.”

Cave is still waiting for insurance adjusters to let him know what condition his truck is in.

“I am just glad I am here to talk about. If we had taken my car, I wouldn't be talking to you."