A
moose got stuck in a tree after eating fermented apples in Saro,
Sweden, Wednesday night.
(CNN) -- It was a dark, windy and rainy night when
Per Johansson returned from work to his home in Saro just south of
Gothenburg, Sweden.
"It was
raining really bad. In the wind I heard something screaming with a
very dark voice," Johansson told CNN. "At first I wondered if it
was the crazy neighbors, but then I heard it again and went and
checked. I saw something really big up in a tree in my neighbors'
yard and it was a moose. It must have been drunk after
eating fermented
apples and as it was reaching out for more fruit it must have
slipped and fallen into the tree."
Johansson
called the local fire and rescue department, which responded with a
fire engine and a jeep with a winch.
"We got
the alarm at 9.59 p.m. on September 6 that a moose was stuck in a
tree," said Anders Gardhagen, spokesman at the Gothenburg Fire and
Rescue Services
"When we
arrived we used the winch to bend down the apple tree so the moose
could get himself out of the tree. Once free, the moose collapsed
on the ground and fell asleep. So we let him sleep it off and went
back home" Gardhagen told CNN.
"Moose
are attracted by the apple trees, and in the autumn when the apples
have fallen off the trees we normally have at least one of these
cases of intoxication. These apples, which ferment in their
bellies, aren't part of their natural food, so they can get quite
angry from this drunkenness," Gardhagen said.
Johansson's
son, Gustav, who is about to turn 11, made sure to take lots of
pictures of the ordeal.
"He is
saving up to buy a PlayStation so he thought he would take pictures
that he could sell," Johansson said.
CNN
purchased three of Gustav's pictures.
When dawn
came the day after it was freed from the tree, the moose had not
yet left.
"When I
went out for the newspaper it was still laying there on the ground,
sleeping. By the time I left for work it was walking around the
neighbor's yard on very shaky legs." Johansson said.
"Today
the moose came back and walked around the yard," he added. "I think
it likes it here."
