'It was tense': Mother moose rescued from frozen lake after being stuck for hours as calf stood by

Officer Severin Erickson holding the moose's head post rescue, so she could breathe.

(Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife / FOX TV Digital Team)

SPOKANE, Wash. - It was a happy ending for a moose after getting stuck for hours in a frozen lake in northeastern Washington. 

Officers with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife spent five hours on Dec. 22 rescuing the mother moose as her calf stood by.  

"It was tense," Paula Pershall-Gilbert, who filmed the rescue, told KXLY. "It was so hard. It was just prayerful, all the time."

The department said its own officers consulted with a nearby fire district and a state patrol trooper on scene and deemed they could safely remove this moose from the ice. 

But authorities said the attempt to pull the moose to safety was a calculated decision. 

This is a sled used by the Pend Oreille County Fire Department's Ice Rescue Team to carry rescuers back across the river after they broke a channel of ice across the river to free the moose.

(Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife / FOX TV Digital Team)

"While this rescue story has a happy ending, it is more the exception than the rule," the department posted on its Facebook page. "Wild animals, cold temperatures, and water is often a dangerous combination and we choose not to attempt a rescue as it is too risky to human life."

The moose foraged to build up her energy reserves following the rescue.

(Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife / FOX TV Digital Team)

WDFW officials also reminded people not to try to rescue animals in distress. 

"Animals do not understand that humans are trying to help and can hurt, or kill, would-be rescuers," the post continued.