4 Idahoans rescue moose from frozen river

(Image credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/GettyImages)

last updated 5 January 2017

Idaho county judge Doug Payne was driving alongside the frozen St. Joe River late last month when he spotted a cow moose trapped in the ice. Determined to stop the animal from freezing to death, Payne went looking for help and found Fish and Game Officer Julie Lininger. The pair flagged down a couple of drivers and together the four tied a nylon tow strap around the moose and began pulling. Thirty minutes later, the beast broke free and dashed through the rescue party toward her calf, which had been waiting on the riverbank. "We all went running off the ice," says Lininger. "But everyone went home with a great story."