Meet the new moose: Highway signs get an unexpected makeover
As an 18-year -old student Chloe Chapdelaine was living in a trailer outside Foremost Alberta and driving past a moose crossing every morning on her way to work.
Something wasn't right. She started asking around.
"Is it just me or is something not right about that moose?" she says. "It was a little bit floppy."
The heavily styled moose crossing sign has been the standard across the country for years. Among its anatomical faults, it has a long tail - which actual moose do not. They have a nub shorter than the average Canadian adult's thumb.
Old moose crossing sign
So Chapdelaine sat down with a sharpie and drew up a new and more literal depiction of an adult bull moose. Gone was the long and prominent brow tine (rare in the wild), and in was a more muscular, svelte cervid, more befitting of the iconic Canadian animal.
Then she wrote a paper pointing out in detail where the old depiction of the moose had too much elk and elephant seal in its physique, and why her version ought to rule the roadsides of the Great White North.
"I mailed them out to as many different departments of transportation and government as I could - I didn't really even know where to send these letters, and I was kind of just waiting for a response," says Chapdelaine.
She eventually stopped waiting. And then largely forgot about the whole thing, she says.
Then one recent day a letter arrived from the Transportation Association of Canada. They first saw the work when it was forwarded by Alberta Transportation.
"Basically they said, 'You know what? We've received your letter that you sent four years ago and we'd like to move forward with your moose crossing sign," Chapdelaine - now 22 - says.
The new signs are already being rolled out from coast to coast to coast - replacing its misshapen predecessor as needed.
You might expect having your design work growing toward ubiquity along the nations' highways would come with a nice paycheque.
Turns out it does not.
"Yeah, so. . ." Chapdelaine says with a smile. "It kind of came down to either they would move forward with my design that I would give them for free or they would stick with the old one."
Chloe Chapdelaine, Dec. 7, 2021
She could not do that to the moose.
But she holds out some hope for one small token of appreciation.
"If I had one of the signs I just think that would be the ultimate thing to get out of this, I think it would be really cool."
The recent Mount Royal University grad has created a t-shirt that riffs on her soon-to-be famous design, with profits going to Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation.
You can find them through her Instagram bio link @chloe.chapdelaine
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
WHO likely to issue wider alert on contaminated cough syrup
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children's cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
WATCH Video shows dramatic police takedown of carjacking suspects chased through parking lot north of Toronto
Police have released video footage of a dramatic takedown of a group of teens wanted in connection with an attempted carjacking in Markham earlier this month.
Canada, G7 urge 'all parties' to de-escalate in growing Mideast conflict
Canada called for 'all parties' to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
'It was all my savings': Ontario woman loses $15K to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Families to receive Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.