Moose saved from river

New Brunswick firefighters got out the axes to rescue a freezing 225-kilogram female moose from the ice on the weekend.

The Shediac fire department got a call at around 8 a.m. Saturday from a homeowner on the Shediac River saying a moose was stuck in ice.

Firefighter Jos LeBlanc, who took a video of the rescue, says the moose first appeared agitated by the firefighters but then calmed down and simply watched them work.

He says they smashed a path to the shore, but the animal seemed reluctant to mount the riverbank.

So they returned to scare the moose, who responded by mounting the bank "like a human," and quickly ran off.

He says it is unclear whether the moose was otherwise able to recover from its time in the frigid river.