During the winter months, animals can end up wanting to stick around towns and that can end with relocation in some cases.

That's exactly what happened in Midale, which saw three moose - two calves and one mother - wandering around the town in January.

Conservation officials had to decide carefully whether removal was necessary and how they'd do something like that.

Senior Conservation Officer Lindsey Leko details some of what they need to consider before the move happens.

"We'd had a cow and two calves hanging around residents into town in Midale for a couple of weeks. After analysing the potential threats, the ability to remove the animals, and what was gonna be best for everybody involved, we made the decision to remove those animals on January 17th."

With the groundwork done, the rest was no small task as moose can often weigh up to 400 kilograms.

The conservation officers got the drugs they'd need for the removal, found the animals, and managed to capture all three animals.

They were then loaded onto a trailer and taken out to land near Rafferty Dam, where they'd have plenty of room. 

When it came time to release those animals, the team did end up running into problems.

"We administered a reversal to the two calves and the cow. The calves recovered almost immediately, but after several attempts to get the cow back to where she was, we made the decision that she wasn't going to be able to recover properly without any kind of injury, so the decision was made to euthanize her. When we left, the calves were doing fine, they're at an age where they're going to be fine on their own."

Not everything can be ideal when it comes to working with wild animals, which is why relocating them in the first place isn't something that can always happen.

"I don't want to say that's something that we're going to do every time, because it's something that's not possible because of where they're located. Once we dart these things, we have to make sure that they're in a location that once they're darted, aren't going to go into traffic or be any more in danger."