Getting up close with nature is one thing. Letting a 1,000-pound wild animal sniff your camera is something else entirely. A video making the rounds on Reddit has sparked a major debate after showing a shockingly close encounter between a man and a moose.
The video, posted to the r/mildlyinteresting subreddit, shows a man filming in a snowy, wooded area as a massive moose calmly walks right up to him. The animal sniffs his camera before letting the man reach out and pet its nose. (Click here to watch the video if the embed does not appear.)
While the moment seems peaceful, it highlights a dangerous trend of people getting too comfortable and close with wild animals. This moose appeared to be docile, but it could have decided to charge at any moment. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, you should never stand your ground against a moose. Instead, the agency advises you to run and get behind something solid.
Encounters can turn tragic in an instant, as one angler in Wyoming learned when he was forced to make a difficult decision after a mother moose charged him. In Colorado, officials recently issued a warning after three separate moose attacks occurred in a single week.
These interactions don’t just put people at risk; they also endanger the animals. A wild animal that attacks a person, even if it feels provoked, may have to be euthanized by wildlife officials. The safest way to appreciate these majestic creatures is from a distance, like when bystanders were delighted to witness a moose give birth outside an Alaska hospital.
The comments on the Reddit post were a mix of awe and serious concern.
“I’m nervous just watching,” one person wrote.
Another user pointed out the danger, saying, “This is an insane thing to do and it’s lucky he survived.”
A different commenter had a more cynical take: “Yeah, i agree he should’ve known better. the human seemed docile enough but you just never know. it might’ve had a gun etc.”
But perhaps the best summary of the situation came from one user who wrote, “I am completely, unshakably convinced that we have trained our survival instincts out of ourselves with zoos and cartoon characters.”
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