A young moose that's hanging out near the intersection of Highways #59 and #52 is drawing a lot of attention. Many people have been snapping photos and contacting Manitoba Conservation about the animal. Kelly Leavesley, the Regional Wildlife Manager for Eastern Manitoba, says it's rare for a moose to be so far from its natural habitat.

"A moose sighting in this area is very unusual. Moose are normally found in eastern Manitoba only within the Boreal Forest zone. And, at one time, moose sightings were not uncommon in those eastern areas. But, in the last few decades, moose sightings have become increasingly rare. So this moose, being a little bit out of where you would normally expect to find it and being all by itself and standing in open fields and along ditches is quite obvious and so people are very interested"

Leavesley says, from the pictures she has seen, this appears to to be a yearling female and suggests it may have been driven off by its mother before giving birth to a new calf. She notes the big concern is that the moose could become a hazard to motorists.

"We are aware of the moose and are trying to keep tabs on it. That isn't too difficult with the number of calls that are coming in. But moose are large animals and they can pose a safety hazard if they wander out across roads. So we really want to make sure the people driving in the area are aware of the moose and are watching for it, particularly at night when it might be a little more difficult to see animals at a distance."

She says there's also a chance the moose has a disease called brain worm and Conservation Officers are keeping an eye on that situation.

"Early signs of brain worm include some of the symptoms that this moose appears to be showing like lack of fear, general reluctance to move a whole lot and even tilting of the head and neck to one side. The concern is, as the disease progresses, if it does have brain worm, the moose becomes more and more disoriented, it looks apparently blind, it'll wander in circles and this is the time that, when it's near a road, it can wander out onto a road."

But Leavesley says there's also a good chance the moose does not have the disease. She adds they are hoping it will wander back to the Sandilands Provincial Forest on its own.