Angie and Shawn Tuffnell and their now deceased attacker (inset)
In the frigid early morning hours of January 22nd, a routine trip outside turned into a life-or-death struggle on an acreage near Bienfait, Saskatchewan—a small community in the province's southeastern corner.
Just like she had done many times before, 70-year-old Angie Tuffnell stepped out into the biting cold (with wind chills temps hovering around -40°C) to start her son's car. Unbeknownst to her, a young bull moose had taken up temporary residence against the side of her house. According to reports, the moose was emaciated, likely starving, and desperately seeking warmth as it huddled right next to the dryer vent for any bit of heat it could find.
Startled by Angie's presence, the moose charged at her without warning. Knocking her to the frozen ground, the moose soon stood directly over her with its ears pinned back, and began stomping on her legs, inflicting a deep, serious wound to her calf.
Inside the house, her son Shawn Tuffnell heard her blood-curdling screams and raced downstairs.
"I heard her yelling," said Shawn. "I went running down the stairs ... what I seen was a moose standing over top of her."
Without hesitation, Shawn confronted the animal. Without giving it too much thought, the 37-year-old made a fist and came out swinging. His first blow landed and split the animal’s lip in the process. Unfortunately for the embattled pair, it wasn’t enough to deter the charging bull. As the bull lunged towards him, Shawn instinctively grabbed a nearby shovel and struck the animal three times, again doing little to thwart his attacker. As he backed toward the house, the moose pushed its front shoulders through the doorway, its massive frame forcing its way inside.
In a desperate bid to protect his mother, who remained pinned outside, Shawn seized the moose by its ears and nostrils. He wrestled it into a headlock, pinning its jaw against his stomach to avoid bites, while using the doorframe to block its flailing hooves.
"I didn’t care what it was doing to me," he said. "All I could think was just getting him blind so he couldn't see her anymore."
Exhausting damn near every option he had, the tide finally shifted when Angie's boyfriend brought a .22-calibre rifle out of the closet. Shawn welcomed the new addition to his arsenal, and quickly fired a shot into the moose's eye to disorient it before reloading and putting an additional 15 rounds into the bull until the animal finally collapsed.
The collapsed bull
A necropsy by the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative confirmed the moose died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, one of which penetrated the brain. In addition to the cause of death, post mortem tests showed no signs of rabies or chronic wasting disease, with authorities confirming that the animal was simply starving, with no fat reserves left, driven into "survival mode" by the extreme winter conditions.
As for Angie, she suffered a deep leg wound requiring stitches and medical treatment during the ordeal but is now recovering. Shawn escaped with a cracked rib and a large goose egg on his head, noticed only after the adrenaline faded.
Angie Tuffnell’s leg wound
"I’m not happy about killing the moose. But we’re all alive ... It seemed like it had to be done," Shawn Tuffnell said. "He was hungry and starving. He was in survival mode."
