It’s not very often that you stop for breakfast and find an unexpected guest in your backyard, let alone swimming in the pool as if it were your own property, but that’s what happened to Paul Koch.

This unannounced visit from a large female moose happened last May and really surprised Paul. But the worst came next.

When Paul takes a good look he realizes that the animal needed help, she was struggling to stay afloat because she had become entangled with the solar cover.

“I looked in the backyard and there was a moose absolutely panicking and struggling. She stepped on the solar blanket and became entangled. She was desperately trying to get free of it,” Paul said.

Paul has seen the presence of certain wildlife animals near his home in Ottawa, Canada, since the COVID-19 pandemic, but he had never seen such an impressive animal.

“We’ve lived in this house for 40 years, and this is the first time I’ve seen a moose this close to town,” Paul said.

Immediately, Paul ran out and helped the animal who was very grateful. The moose continued to swim around the pool demonstrating its great skill.

Moose are born knowing how to swim and spend much of their time in the water, especially in winter when they graze on underwater plants. One of the characteristics of these animals is that they can close their large nostrils and hold their breath for up to a minute.

However, this wild moose had some trouble getting out of the pool, so Paul called the police and wildlife services for help.

“He looked so sad out there that my wife said she wanted to give him a hug,” Paul said.

Wildlife services workers were somewhat apprehensive about administering a tranquilizer so they could get her to a safer place.

Fortunately, all this beautiful specimen needed was a little more time to get her bearings.

“The best thing that happened was three and a half hours later when this animal came out of the deep end of the pool and jumped the fence,” Paul said.

Police returned to tell Paul that the animal had returned to the wooded area from which it had emerged.

Luckily this swim was of no consequence to the moose, but not so for Paul’s pool which was left with two hoof-sized holes in the bottom.

However, this is the least of Paul’s concern, who celebrates the life of this unexpected visitor.

Share this adorable story that miraculously had a happy ending.