An injured baby moose rescued last week is doing well at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve, despite the organization operating short-handed with reduced resources.

“We were hoping that we wouldn’t see an animal like this coming to us this year,” Jake Paleczny, the preserve’s executive director, said during an interview there Monday.

“But, he’s here now, and so we’re gonna do our very best to help him.”

The calf’s mother was presumably struck by a vehicle last Wednesday, according to a Whitehorse Bylaw Services report.

An adult moose was badly injured and put down after being hit near the Canada Games Centre, according to Kirby Meister, the Yukon government’s acting director of Conservation Officer Services.

Last Thursday morning, Bylaw Services heard that a calf was being chased by a dog near Hamilton Boulevard and Sumanik Drive.

Bylaw officers found the calf lying down with an apparent leg injury. Bylaw and RCMP officers subdued and rescued the youngster, wrapping him in blankets and transporting him to the preserve, which is off the Takhini Hot Springs Road.

When the animal arrived at the preserve, Paleczny said, the first priority was to gauge and treat its stress.

“He was really warm, breathing really heavily; he’d spent the last 12 to 24 hours running and fighting for his life,” Paleczny said.

“(The) initial exam found he had some minor bruising on his back legs and a broken, damaged dew claw on his back right leg. Other than that, in relatively good shape, but really dehydrated.” 

The calf was given IV fluids to help with rehydration. Preserve veterinarian Dr. Maria Hallock estimated the calf was between six and eight weeks old when found and would still be nursing, but he has refused all milk replacers thus far.

“Luckily, he is eating, eating lots and lots of willow … 50 of those branches a day,” Paleczny said.

“This is great, although they are still working on how to get some of the nutrients into him that he needs that he would normally be getting from his mother’s milk.”

Staff are also working to develop a relationship with the calf, who will stay at the preserve permanently.

The preserve isn’t set up to release ungulates (large mammals like moose and deer) because there’s a chance the animal was exposed to pathogens at the preserve that shouldn’t go back out into the wild, Paleczny explained.

Caring for moose also requires close interactions and relationship development.

“Having a moose that’s out in the wild that has had this close relationship with people both lowers his chances of survival but also poses a risk to other people,” Paleczny said.

Once staff can develop that relationship with the moose, they will begin a staged socialization process with the other four moose currently living at the preserve.

The calf will eventually be released into the preserve’s two moose habitats, which are 36 and 150 acres respectively.

Rehabilitating a moose is an intensive process made more difficult by predicaments posed by the pandemic.

“Like everywhere else, we’re feeling that pinch,” Paleczny said.

“We don’t have all the help we normally have, so having a moose like this adds additional pressures and challenges to our already-stretched staff. 

“They’re working hard to make sure he makes a good recovery.”

Paleczny estimates a revenue loss of $200,000-$300,000 this year due to lack of visitors.

The preserve closed to the public when the territory entered lockdown during the spring. It reopened in June to see about 30 per cent of its normal visitation that month.

Most summers, the preserve welcomes six to eight veterinary student interns from Haines, Alaska, through the American Bald Eagle Foundation.

The internship program nearly doubles staff levels and provides some much-needed relief to full-time employees. That isn’t happening this year, due to pandemic travel restrictions.

“COVID-19 has definitely impacted our staffing and our income that we’re earning,” Paleczny said.

“We do really appreciate and – especially in a year like this – need the support of our community for caring for an animal like this.”

Paleczny requested that Yukoners who are able to make a donation consider doing so through the preserve’s website. Donations will aid in paying for care and milk replacer.