Erich Jyri Prikko recently served with a unit at a location close to Lake Vrtsjärv as a conscript in the Estonian defense force. Last week, Prikko decided to go into the woods in search of, as he called it, an “alternative bathroom,” but he soon felt another kind of call from nature.
Prikko said, “I heard weird voices that reminded me of a cat or a young baby.” “I saw a cute animal of some sort approaching me. He initially made me think of a dog. But I soon understood it was a tiny baby moose trying to communicate with me.”
The moose calf was alone in the area. Prikko decided to sit down hoping the baby moose would return to his mother, wherever she may be, as he didn’t want to add to the animal’s pain.
“He approached me slowly,” Prikko reported. “He was initially timid, but he approached fairly close to me after deciding that I appeared trustworthy.”
Prikko was shocked, but the moose calf continued and went even more profound.
Prikko said, “He even attempted to detect something under my armpit. He could have assumed I have mammary glands.
It appeared that the young moose had soon started to view the soldier as his mother.
Naturally, Prikko could not grant the request, but even so, the starving calf seemed to feel better just in his peaceful company. Prikko decided to assist in another way at that point.
Prikko added, “I called our veterinarian clinic and told them what happened. “I wanted to ask what I should do because I wanted to do more for the little calf.”
Prikko was instructed to take care of the matter while returning the calf to his previous spot. A veterinarian was sent to the location with a milk bottle to feed the young moose just in case his mother didn’t show up in response to Prikko’s report.
Although leaving the calf there by itself was unpleasant, it was a wise decision.
If the calf’s mother scared away, Prikko and his team tried their best not to damage the area. And sure enough, when Prikko awoke in the middle of the night to a moose call, the baby wasn’t there.
We found highly recent large moose footprints, which suggested that the mother had saved the young calf, according to Prikko.
Everything had been right.
In this case, Prikko successfully carried out his responsibility as a soldier, which was to protect animals.
“I wanted the calf’s mother to find him, so I was quite happy when we learned that they had found each other.”
