Moose licking salt off car had 'kind eyes,' says Banff couple

A Banff couple had afront row seat to an unusual wildlife encounter this week.

They got towatch amoose give their truck a saliva bath.

Theresa Malan and her husband were driving throughPeter Lougheed Provincial Park, about 130 kilometres west ofCalgary, when they spotted thebull lickingsalt off another vehicle parked on the road.

The pair decided to pull over and start filming.

"It was a very Canadian experience," said Malan, whose husband is from South Africa.

"This is his first year as a permanent residentand he was pretty blown away."

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The moose then meandered over to the couple's truck andstarting licking away. The encounter lasted "a good 30 to 45 minutes," Malan said.

"You could feel his antlers brushing up against the truck."

Car-licking moose warning

The Alberta government issued a warning on Tuesday about car-licking moose, advising anyone heading out to the Chester Lake and BurstallPass parking lots to sound their horn if an animal approaches their vehicle.

Alberta Parks is also asking people to report any aggressive moose encounters, however, Malan said their moose was "very gentle."

"He was so placid and so chill and he just had very kind eyes. He didn't have any aggression within him at all," she said.

Malan says they never intended for the moose tolick their car.

"He came to us," she said. "We're pretty mindful of the wildlife in the area so we wouldn't have continued had we not felt safe."

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