Young moose on the mend after dog attack near Whitehorse

Things are looking up for "Jesse", a young moose that was found seriously injured earlier this summer in the bush near Whitehorse. 

The 3-month-old ungulate was just a week or two old when she was separated from her mother and attacked by dogs, according to staff at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve, where Jesse is now being cared for.

She was found in the bush by a teenager, who chased the dogs away, carried her out to the road, and drove her to the preserve a few kilometres away.

"[The dogs] chewed up the entire neck,' said Maria Hallock, the preserve's curator.

"This is how she came over — bleeding and swollen and crying. Wasn't able to move, wasn't able to nurse, wasn't able to do anything, basically."

Staff at the preserve cleaned the animal's wounds (which turned out to be superficial), hooked her up to an IV, and spent the first night at their facility, tending to her.

"She had a really hard time breathing, just because of the swelling," Hallock said.

A new home at the preserve 

Now Jesse — named after the teen that found her — is up and about, eating well and growing. She's eating all the fireweed on the property, supplemented by leaves, formula, fruits, vegetables and food pellets, Hallock said.

But she won't be going back into the wild. Jesse will stay at the preserve, becoming its third resident moose.

Hallock said the animal has now become too accustomed to humans, so she can't be released back into the wild.

"She's going to be approaching humans," Hallock said, pointing out that Jesse will soon be a big, and potentially dangerous, animal.

"Plus, people hunt moose, so she doesn't really have much of a chance in the wild. [She'd] probably ... be somebody's stew in no time."