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2 Moose Found Frozen Mid-Fight in Remote Alaska

'A stark vision of how brutally harsh life can be'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 19, 2016 3:49 PM CST
2 Moose Found Frozen Mid-Fight in Remote Alaska
In this Nov. 12, 2016 photo, provided by Jeff Erickson, shows moose antlers after two moose were frozen mid-fight and encased in ice near the remote village of Unalakleet, Alaska, on the state's western coast.   (Jeff Erickson)

Two moose were recently discovered frozen in battle and encased in ice near a remote village on Alaska's unforgiving western coast, the AP reports. Brad Webster, a middle school social studies and science teacher in Unalakleet, captured images of the massive animals poking through the ice as they lay on their sides with antlers apparently locked together. He had taken a friend who recently moved to the village for a walk on Nov. 2 near a frozen slough at Covenant Bible Camp, where Webster volunteers as a camp steward. "That's when we saw it," he said Friday. He initially thought it was just one moose that had been shot but when he got a closer look, he saw the second moose.

It took him a moment to realize what he was seeing, he said. It was the end of moose rutting season, and the animals likely were fighting over a female moose. Webster speculates that one of the animals was wounded by the other animal's antlers, and perhaps died as their antlers were caught together, dragging the rival down with it. On the way back to Unalakleet, he and his friend kept thinking about it and saying, "We really saw that," in amazement, Webster recalled. "It was such a surreal sight—so serene and quiet, but a stark vision of how brutally harsh life can be," added a student activities director in the Bering Strait School District, who went back with Webster a few days later. (More moose stories.)

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