Photographer Captures Rare ‘Spirit Moose’ on Trail Camera
A photographer captured a rare “spirit moose” on a trail camera he set up after a long fascination with the elusive white moose.
Mark Clement set his trail camera up west of Timmins in Ontario, Canada near to where he and his wife had first spotted a white moose all the way back in the year 2000.
“A few years ago we saw another white moose on a drive in the same general area, that’s when I decided to get a trail cam and see if I could capture one,” Clement tells PetaPixel.
“Spirit moose AKA white moose or ghost is considered sacred and a sign of good luck by the First Nation in the area,” he adds.
“Although I’ve seen plenty of brown moose over the years, the white moose just stands out in the summer forest and probably because there are so few of them. They look identical to brown moose except for fur color and they do have brown eyes and not red like albino.”
Clement highlights that it is illegal to hunt white moose in the area. In November 2020, there was a shocking incident where two spirit moose were killed by poachers near Timmins outraging the local First Nation population.
Capturing a Spirit Moose on Camera
Clement has been tracking spirit moose sightings ever since his early encounters with the animal and after witnessing one a few years ago he decided to set up trail cameras to try and capture one.
“The trail cams I use are pretty much all made by a company called Spypoint and the model is Flex,” explains Clement.
“I’m very happy with the performance and video quality for a cellular camera running on AA batteries.
“I’ve slowly expanded the number of cameras out in the area in hopes of gathering more information on the number of white moose and their seasonal movements through the forest.”
Clement and his wife Lynn regularly update their photography page on Facebook with the amazing wildlife in their local area and sell prints too.
Image credits: All photos by Mark Clement.
