Charging Moose!

Mama protecting her baby from the barking dog and human photographer

Staring down the enemy...

Not to much of a threat, I'll go back to eating...

Great size comparison standing next to our full size school bus...

What is this big blue thing anyway? 

CHARGE!!!

What a beauty!

The kids always spot the moose first!  Today we were in school time when they all hollered.  This particular mama and baby are different than the ones we've been seeing.  You can tell the baby is much younger by its size and it would never leave it's mama's side.  Wherever mama ate, baby ate, when mom sniffed the big blue bus, baby took a whiff too.  When Mom charged the dog, baby stood back.  
I was taking photo's from our front door deck area when she came right up into the middle of our driveway.  I figured I could always run back into the cabin, but when she charged at the dog a second time, I was feeling a little to close to the action because the dog was in front of me.  So I ran back into the cabin really fast.  The blurry "Charge" picture above was the first time she tried.  The second time I didn't wait to snap anything. 

They are amazingly powerful and swift, yet noble and graceful.  I noticed that the Mom stood facing the danger while baby stood in the opposite direction for a speedy retreat.  I'm sure this is training time for the little one.  It's like somehow they are communicating and practicing close to danger but far enough to be safe and learn some important lessons. 

I'm thinking all of us Mothers could take some lessons from watching the behaviour of a mama moose with her almost grown calf.  Mama is leading her little one near situations that appear to be dangerous in order to teach how to circumvent those challenges.  She places herself in a position to fight and protect, yet all the while, teaching her little one caution. 

Can you imagine a mama moose sitting down on her haunches from a distance watching her little one roam wherever he pleased?  Only stepping in when she felt like it or maybe when it might make her look bad?  No, that would be silly.  She's right there, in the action, teaching and training.

That baby moose is not sheltered, in fact he is exposed to all sorts of challenges and dangers in a way that he could never be exposed if he was completely left to himself or the care of others.  Are you getting the analogy?  It is so great, I feel so encouraged to see that we have nothing to fear, other than fear itself, as president, Franklin D. Roosevelt once said.