Photos: Fishermen Lasso and Rescue Moose that Fell Through Ice

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Chris Gale and his buddies were on their way to a riverboat fishing trip last spring when they spotted a crowd of people trying to help a moose that had fallen through the ice. Chris, a wildlife photographer, got out his camera while his buddies came up with a plan to lasso the moose and drag it to safety. Check out the photos of the rescue in this gallery. All photos by Chris Gale.

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Chris and his friends were driving by Muncho Lake in northern British Columbia and saw this young cow struggling to keep her head above water. The moose tried to cross the lake but broke through the spotty ice.

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"We just saw this head bobbing above the water," Chris said. "No one knew how long it was in there for."

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Some of the other bystanders laid out boards on the ice, but they didn't want to risk walking out there. Chris's buddy Matthew Burton volunteered to be the rope man.

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"One of the guys is a small little eskimo dude so he said he'd go out there because he's the smallest one … Everone was looking at him like he was kind of nuts and he kind of is," Chris said.

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So they tied a rope around Matthew (in case he fell through) and gave him another rope to lasso the moose.

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Soon enough, Matthew roped the moose and everyone helped pull her out.

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"The thing looked so happy to be out of there. We got it out, cut the rope and backed away," Chris said.

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The moose was exhausted and scraped up, but after the crew cut the rope it walked off into the mountains.

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Chris, a diehard hunter and angler, has been a wildlife photographer for 10 years and has never witnessed a moose go through the ice, but he has heard about it happening. "It happens all the time up here, but no one is ever around to save them," he says.