Moose And Its Calves Decided To Spend The Day In This Family's Garden

Roland Rydstrom lives in Anchorage, Alaska, and recently had some unexpected guests. Last week, a mother moose and her two calves came to his garden. As if that wasn’t enough, they really liked their lawn and decided to spend the day there.

The youngsters were trying out everything and when they decided the area was safe, they huddled together and took a nap. At one point, their mother fed them. Rydstrom photographed the family from inside their house, and when they left, he uploaded the photos to the internet. They went viral right away, showing that people needed to see something so innocent and adorable in these difficult times.

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Photo credit: Roland Rydstrom

When Rydstrom saw the moose and raised the blinds to get a better look, the animals didn’t even notice. “I went to get the Flat Stanley my cousins sent me from Iowa. I promised them and their school that I would take a picture of Flat Stanley with the moose in my yard, but in the three months that I had been working at home, I wasn’t home when the moose came, which is very common. I’d even taken it on excursions, but so far I hadn’t had any luck with pictures of moose.”

“I took the pictures of the moose with Flat Stanley, and a few without him, and then I went to work. I really thought the moose would go away at some point, but every time I looked, they were still there. I could see them directly from my work area. I was very distracted and had fun while editing videos of my work, with the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra. During the day, while the moose changed places, or took walks, I went back to the window or looked out the door to take more pictures of them. They didn’t listen to me most of the time (although their ears were up most of the time, so they were obviously alert)”.

Photo credit: Roland Rydstrom

The moose were in the Rydstrom garden most of the day, from before 9 am until almost 7 pm. “They took two quick walks around the neighborhood, but soon returned to their place in the garden. As you can see in the pictures, most of the time they were just resting there. A neighbor reported that he had seen this same family of moose running along the road early this morning, a few miles from the neighborhood. If he had made videos earlier, you would have seen that the particular mother was breathing heavily. They needed to rest, and I think they found it safe to do so here in our yard.”

Photo credit: Roland Rydstrom

“Note the smile on its face as it knocks over this pot. Sociopath.”

Photo credit: Roland Rydstrom

“And just like that he knocked over the pot, and the little one pretended he had nothing to do with it…”

Photo credit: Roland Rydstrom

“The calves spent a lot of time lounging together. It was lovely to see them there, moving towards with the sun as the day wore on.”

Photo credit: Roland Rydstrom

Rydstrom was right not to go out and take pictures of the moose family that visited him. They’re usually not aggressive, but they can become incredibly dangerous when provoked. A female moose will not think twice about attacking a person if she thinks they are threatening her young.

Photo credit: Roland Rydstrom

“As the elk family came and went from the garden, they nibbled on plants, and in the case of the young ones, on patio furniture and garden decorations, and on the neighbor too, just like babies, putting everything in their mouths. In fact, the neighbor started turning the decorative garden lights on and off, trying to scare the youngsters, who were trying to eat a light bulb, afraid that the glass in their mouth would break and they would hurt themselves.”

Photo credit: Roland Rydstrom