Angry moose refuses to listen to reason

A moose captured in the northern American wilderness was not at all grateful to the man who freed it.

"There's no call to be nasty," animal trapper Wes Livingston told the cranky female moose calf as he released it from its bonds in frozen Maine — but the "mean little girl" ignored his pleas and lashed out at him.

A camera attached to Livingston's chest captured footage of his drily witty banter with the moose as he was mauled.

"First time I ever got beat up by a baby moose," he mused after the attack.

Livingston appeared to be unhurt by the moose, which regarded him with wary suspicion.

He eventually chased off the animal by tossing a stick at it.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has embarked on a four-year plan to study female moose and calves with assistance from helicopter crews that capture the animals and attach radio collars to them.

The data will help the state track the movement and behaviour of its moose population.