Williams Lake resident Hattie Deyo captured this photograph of a rare white moose, or spirit moose, during a drive outside the city recently. (Hattie Deyo photo)

VIDEO: Rare white ‘spirit moose’ spotted in Cariboo

April 1, 2021 // by Greg Sabatino

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A Williams Lake resident is considering buying a lottery ticket after luckily stumbling across a rare, white moose while out for a scenic drive during the weekend.

“People have always told me I’m lucky but this one kind of trumps them all,” says Hattie Deyo, who managed to capture a video and photographs from the encounter on a back road in the Cariboo outside Williams Lake.

“It was with its mom, which was a brown moose. I didn’t know what it was at first. I thought it was a cow with long legs.”

Growing up in a rural home, Deyo says she’s heard of white moose, also called spirit moose, sightings before, but never imagined she’d witness one first hand.

“It was pretty impactful,” she says. “And one in a million.”

After she parked her vehicle, the mother of the white moose calf carried on, but the calf stayed behind.

“It didn’t go anywhere,” she says. “It was really cool and stood there for about 10 minutes … then it just casually strolled away.”

Cariboo Chilcotin Zone Conservation Officer Service Sgt. Jeff Tyre said in his roughly 14-year career he’s never come across a white moose.

“It’s definitely unique,” he says. “You’ll only ever see one like that in your lifetime.”

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