A 1,000-pound moose fell into an icy lake. Rescuers had to get creative.

It was a bitterly frigid morning in northern New York when a passerby saw an alarming sight: A roughly 1,000-pound moose plunged into a semi-frozen lake. Upon closer inspection, it appeared the moose was trapped.

"A civilian saw it go through,” Lt. Robert Higgins, a conservation police officer for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, said in an interview posted to the department’s website.

The moose had wandered about 200 feet from the shore in rural Hamilton County onto Lake Abanakee on January 16, when the temperature outside was about 12 degrees. The animal shattered through the layer of ice and dropped into the arctic water beneath.

Just its head was above water, and it wasn’t able to climb back onto the ice, or swim to shore.

A crew of New York State Forest Rangers and Environmental Conservation Police officers rushed to the scene to help the moose, which had shed its antlers. It was an unusual assignment, and rescuers knew they had to get creative.

"There’s no training manual for getting a moose out of the ice,” Higgins said.

They requested an airboat - a flat-bottomed vessel that can glide over thin ice and slush - to assist with the rescue effort, but they didn’t know how long it would take to arrive, and time was critical. They huddled to strategize.

"We came up with a game plan,” said Higgins, explaining their idea was to chisel the ice to create a trail: "Let’s see if we can start cutting the channel to get the moose out of there.”

Rescuers guiding the moose back to the shore. Pic: NYSDEC

With a chainsaw, they carved a path in the ice - which was between one to four inches thick - so the moose would be able to swim to the shore. They were prepared in case one of the rescuers fell into the lake, which has an average depth of about 12 feet.

"We had cold water suits on and dry suits on with flotation, and means to get ourselves out if that happened,” forest ranger Matt Savarie said.

They had to act fast. While one ranger began cutting through the ice with the chainsaw, Higgins cleared the ice blocks to create a passage for the moose to reach shallow water.

"Time wasn’t on our side,” forest ranger Evan Nahor said.

"Every minute counts when something is in that cold water; the quicker you can get that person or animal out of the ice, the better chance for survival,” echoed Higgins.

Hypothermia can set in quickly.

To guide the moose along the path, they tried poking him. He didn’t budge. They then pushed their jet sleds up close to his body, and that did the trick. The moose began to move.

"We were able to direct it to the path, and it actually swam out pretty quick to shore,” Savarie said.

By the time they were able to get him out, the moose had been submerged in the water for about two hours.

"It was really tired; it was shivering; it didn’t have much energy left,” Higgins said. "I was really surprised it was able to climb itself out of that.”

For about 15 minutes, the moose sat resting on the ground.

"We didn’t know if it was going to be able to stand up or not,” Higgins said.

But then, the enormous animal suddenly rose and wandered off into the woods - which, rescuers said, felt like a reward for their effort.

"It was an amazing sight to see that huge moose stand up right in front of us and eventually get its footing,” Higgins said. "It was great.”