Elvia and Todd Malcolm were driving in Telos Township, Maine, about an hour from their home in Lincoln, when they spotted a female moose at the edge of a wooded area. The moose turned down a side road, prompting Todd to tell his wife to grab her phone for a photo opportunity.
Agitated Moose Signals Distress
They parked their truck to watch and noticed the moose seemed agitated, grunting as if calling to a calf. Suddenly, a moose calf and a large black bear burst from the trees, charging straight toward them. Todd Malcolm said there was no doubt the bear would catch the calf, and he decided to intervene.
Quick-Thinking Driver Blocks the Bear
“I put the truck in drive and I just stepped on the gas,” Todd Malcolm told The Associated Press. He explained he wasn't trying to hurt the bear, just placing the truck between the predator and the calf. “I knew what I had to do and I just did it.” The bear jumped aside and fled into the woods. “Boom, gone, right in the woods,” he said.
His wife, Elvia, was relieved. “My heart was racing because I did not want to witness the bear catching the calf,” she said. “As soon as the calf got past the truck and we were able to get the bear to give up the chase, I looked up the road and saw that they were together, the mom and the calf.”
Action Shots Captured by Chance
After the excitement, Elvia checked her phone and was amazed to find clear action shots of the chase taken through the windshield. “I really thought I probably got like a bug on the windshield when I started to look at them,” she said. “I took them through the front windshield of the truck. I wasn’t outside the truck. No way was I getting outside the truck.”
Once they confirmed the mother and calf were reunited and safe, the Malcolms continued to their fishing spot, where they caught brook trout.
