Melvin Rideout has had to roll a few cows in his day, but the Cormack dairy farmer wasn’t expecting he’d ever do the same thing to save a moose.

Melvin and his wife, Diana Rideout, were on the Trans-Canada Highway en route to the hospital in Corner Brook just after 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4, when just east of Marble Mountain they saw two moose in the eastbound lanes of the divided highway.

“They were just walking along in front of traffic and then one went to the woods towards Marble Mountain and the other tried to jump over the median. When it jumped, it didn’t clear the median and its feet got hung up and it kind of landed on its face into the pavement,” Melvin said while sharing the story with The Telegram on Thursday, Feb. 5.

“From there, it fell on its back, but it was leaning towards the concrete median so it couldn’t kick itself to get up, and it was too heavy to get over. It was kind of just stuck up on its back there,” said Melvin.

Melvin stopped his truck and got out while Diana videoed what was happening from the safety of the vehicle.

“Where the moose was positioned, it was in traffic. For the animal to be left there, it probably would have been struck, being on its back,” he said.

“I knew the moose wouldn’t be able to survive on its back, so I knew it had to come out of it for the animal’s safety and for traffic as well.”

On the other side of the highway, Mark Gionet had also stopped.

Gionet and his wife, Anne-Maria Gionet, of York Harbour, were on the way to Norris Point to do some cross-country skiing.

After the bigger one, a male, went off into the woods, he said the female kept on trotting down the highway for a little bit.

“She ran right alongside the median and she stopped and tried to walk over it or jump over it, but she tripped and flipped over onto her back, and there she stayed. I guess she was off balance and she couldn’t right herself by herself,” said Gionet.

Gionet pulled over, and while his wife also videoed from their vehicle, he went to the median.

“I just checked both ways for traffic, but I ran across the road because I didn’t want her to be hit, and I wanted to try to help if I could,” said Gionet.

Melvin soon joined him, and without really time to talk, the two agreed the moose had to be rolled.

“So, her legs wouldn’t be in the air, they’d be down on the pavement, and she’d be able to get up,” said Gionet.

As they worked, Melvin said traffic continued to pass them in the eastbound lanes. Some slowed, but others didn’t, and Gionet said he felt the wind of vehicles at his back.

Melvin said they tried to push the moose from the opposite side of the concrete first because neither of them wanted to be kicked by the animal, but they couldn’t get the legs over enough for the moose to continue rolling itself over.

“I’m used to large animals, where we have a dairy farm. There’s a certain situation with cows if they get what’s called a twisted stomach, we have to roll the cow in the opposite direction to untwist the stomach. It’s pretty much the same as rolling any big animal,” Melvin said.

“So, I knew the place where the neck had to be and where the legs needed to be in order to get the momentum to roll the animal over.”

Melvin got back in the westbound lane close to the moose. He felt relatively safe because the moose was dazed, as it was hit in the head when it fell down.

“I just took the positions that I needed and rolled it over, and she just popped up on her feet right away,” said Melvin.

Melvin was concerned they would get her flipped and she would stagger out in traffic and get hit by a vehicle, but another vehicle pulled up and parked alongside of his so traffic couldn’t go through.

“So, it was a pretty safe situation. We watched her until she walked off the road and on out into the ditch. I think she’s definitely going to have a full recovery,” said Melvin.

Even after the moose went off, Melvin and Gionet didn’t have time to discuss what had happened.

“We rolled over the moose, and we walked our separate ways, and that was it,” said Melvin.

Diana Rideout and Gionet posted videos of the rescue on Facebook and they’ve gotten a lot of responses complimenting the men for what they did.

Diana said she was not surprised that Melvin didn’t hesitate to help, but she was concerned about his safety.

They were on the way to the hospital where Melvin had an appointment for an echocardiogram when the incident happened, and he got back in the truck after and drove on as if there was nothing to it.

“I am so happy it worked out how it did, and the feedback was amazing,” she said.

“It was just something that I felt needed to be done, so I just went and done it. I just done what anybody would do in the same situation,” said Melvin.

Gionet said he doesn’t want any credit for his part in helping the moose.

“I was just very, very happy that she was OK,” said Gionet.