Caught on camera: Moose rescued from barbed wire fence in southern Alberta

A southern Alberta man and his son are guaranteed to be on Santa's 'nice' list this year after freeing a young moose that had become tangled in a barbed wire fence.

Reece Wionzek and his son Sawyer were enjoying the great outdoors in Kananaskis on Tuesday when they came across the moose calf.

The father and son live near the hamlet of Millarville and are used to seeing wildlife.

They say it was clear the moose was panicking.

"Its leg was stuck in the fence," Sawyer explained.

"We saw it start pulling away, and you could hear the fence start creaking," Wionzek added.

If no one had come to the calf’s rescue, it very likely would have died, but the two took a look around and started considering their options.

"We didn't know what we had for tools," Wionzek said. "We thought we might have to make the 20-minute drive home to get the tools and (then drive) 20 minutes back, but my son remembered he packed his (multi-tool)."

Even though the moose was young, it was still big and potentially dangerous.

Wionzek handed his phone to his son and got him to take video of the rescue, "in case the moose got me," he said.

"He was making a kind of whimpering noise. We were kind of talking to each other… (I said) 'If you don't try and kick me, I'll cut you out of the fence."

Wionzek cautiously angled around and cut the moose free. 

"I put my hand out and he sniffed my hand, and I touched his nose," he said.

A young moose caught in a fence in southern Alberta. In the video, the moose can be seen standing around for a few moments before walking away.

"I think he'd kind of had enough of us," Wionzek said. "So he moved off toward the sunrise and trotted up the hill."

The moose can be seen pausing to look back toward his rescuers before heading back to the wild.