A Mother Moose tale from Idaho

INKOM, Idaho (AP) — Some people make walking their dog a nightly ritual.

Dory McIsaac walks a moose.

The nightly jaunts with "Maynard," an orphaned 5-week-old moose that McIsaac has been taking care of since he was several days old, might seem odd if they were to take place in town.

But around the McIsaac's home on McNabb Road near Inkom, neighbors are used to the sight of a woman and a young moose walking through fields.

"He follows me everywhere I go," McIsaac said.

Maynard isn't a pet, however.

McIsaac is currently playing the role of surrogate mother — complete with feedings from a bottle every two hours. Next spring she plans to release Maynard and "Bullseye Bob," another young moose who arrived at the farm last Monday, when they turn 1 year old.

"I really, really want them to go," McIsaac said. "That's the whole point of this. I don't want to see them in a zoo."

McIsaac's moose nurturing came about after she talked with local Department of Fish and Game officials. Conservation officers had previously faced a quandary with orphaned or abandoned moose; McIsaac volunteered to help. She had heard about a juvenile moose that crashed into a Pocatello basement last summer and ultimately died from stress after being relocated to Bear World near Rexburg.

At her place near Inkom, which is called Mystic Farm, she thought she could do better. But after McIsaac got the call on June 5 from Fish and Game officials that a pair of orphaned moose had been found near Blackfoot Reservoir, her life changed quickly and dramatically.

While Maynard took to the bottle quickly, his twin sister "Millie" was more reluctant. Though McIsaac did her best, Millie died two weeks after she was brought to Mystic Farm.

"I think the first five days I had them I slept for three hours," McIsaac said. "(The moose) would not have made it another day probably if they hadn't brought them to me."

Maynard was distraught over his sister's death, McIsaac said. He quit eating for a while, and McIsaac set up a cot inside her barn to be with him around the clock.

"It is my life," she admitted.