A yearling female moose and a 20-year-old horse named Little Bit have become very popular attractions at a farm just outside Groton Village.
The two docile animals have apparently bonded as pals, much to the delight of scads of tourists who come by to observe or yell, clap, honk horns and sing. These actions have forced the landowners where the animals now romp to post their pasture against trespassers.
The family agreed to speak about the wild moose and their domestic horse on the condition that their name or exact property location not be specified.
For weeks, a young moose was seen wandering around the Groton Village area and on July 12 ended up in a field adjacent to Route 302 outside the village. The moose enjoyed the pleasure of having the clear-running Wells River at her back and plenty to eat from nearby hayfields, especially at the farm location which would serve as her new summer home.
And in a hayfield close to that farm, a horse was paddocked. The two animals came together in those hayfields and before long, the moose was following the horse back to the farmyards and barn. They romped together, trotted together and could be seen peering out the barn window or standing side-by-side at the fence just outside the farm's kitchen door.
After more than seven weeks, the two female animals are still attracted to each other. They are both brown, the moose taller and longer. The horse is the leader and the moose follows wherever they go. The moose is about a year old, according to neighbors who have spoken with a Vermont game biologist. The farm children named her "Mary."
Mary the Moose and Little Bit, a Welch Cob, enjoy the coolness of the interior in a huge barn located on the property and frequently walk the pasture together, much to the delight of passing motorists. The host family is very careful not to feed Mary, requiring her to live off the land instead of their handouts.
Mary lives off their land, however. She has chewed all of the existing day lily flowers, apple boughs, cherry trees, grape vines and has this week finished off all the Virginia Creeper on the farm.
http://www.caledonianrecord.com/pages/local_news/story/d52972a74
The two docile animals have apparently bonded as pals, much to the delight of scads of tourists who come by to observe or yell, clap, honk horns and sing. These actions have forced the landowners where the animals now romp to post their pasture against trespassers.
The family agreed to speak about the wild moose and their domestic horse on the condition that their name or exact property location not be specified.
For weeks, a young moose was seen wandering around the Groton Village area and on July 12 ended up in a field adjacent to Route 302 outside the village. The moose enjoyed the pleasure of having the clear-running Wells River at her back and plenty to eat from nearby hayfields, especially at the farm location which would serve as her new summer home.
And in a hayfield close to that farm, a horse was paddocked. The two animals came together in those hayfields and before long, the moose was following the horse back to the farmyards and barn. They romped together, trotted together and could be seen peering out the barn window or standing side-by-side at the fence just outside the farm's kitchen door.
After more than seven weeks, the two female animals are still attracted to each other. They are both brown, the moose taller and longer. The horse is the leader and the moose follows wherever they go. The moose is about a year old, according to neighbors who have spoken with a Vermont game biologist. The farm children named her "Mary."
Mary the Moose and Little Bit, a Welch Cob, enjoy the coolness of the interior in a huge barn located on the property and frequently walk the pasture together, much to the delight of passing motorists. The host family is very careful not to feed Mary, requiring her to live off the land instead of their handouts.
Mary lives off their land, however. She has chewed all of the existing day lily flowers, apple boughs, cherry trees, grape vines and has this week finished off all the Virginia Creeper on the farm.
http://www.caledonianrecord.com/pages/local_news/story/d52972a74
