Content Warning: The following article contains details of violence involving an animal.
In Bienfait, Saskatchewan, Angie Tuffnell experienced a chilling moment with the wind making it feel like -40 as she stepped out to start her car, just like any other day until a dramatic incident unfolded.
“I heard her yelling,” shared her son, Shawn Tuffnell. “I rushed downstairs … and saw a moose standing over her.”
A desperate and freezing moose sought warmth by a dryer vent against the house, eventually leading to an attack on Angie.
Amid the chaos, Shawn took a bold step to confront the moose directly.
“My initial impulse — not well thought out — was to walk out and punch it in the face,” Shawn recounted to CBC’s The 306.
The punch caused a split in the animal’s lip, but it persisted. The moose made a lunge, narrowly missing Shawn’s face. Subsequently, he resorted to using a shovel, hitting the moose multiple times, yet the animal persisted in its aggression.
During the struggle, as Shawn retreated into the house, the moose followed, forcing its way partially through the doorframe.
“It was right on the house floor … trying to reach me,” Shawn described.
When the moose turned back towards his mother, still immobilized on the frozen ground, Shawn took swift action by grabbing its ears and nostrils. He managed to wrestle the moose into a headlock, keeping its jaws pinned against his stomach to prevent any bites, utilizing the doorframe as a barrier against its hooves.
“I was focused on blinding it so it couldn’t harm her anymore,” he emphasized.
Act of Survival
The intense situation finally ended when Angie’s boyfriend arrived with a .22-calibre rifle. Shawn took the gun and fired several shots to neutralize the moose.
His first shot aimed at the moose’s eye to divert its attention from his mother. Subsequently, he reloaded the rifle.
“I think I fired around 15 bullets. Finally, I took it down,” Shawn recounted.
A post-mortem examination by the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative later confirmed that the moose succumbed to “multiple gunshot wounds to the head,” including a fatal shot penetrating its brain.