Medicine Hat, AB– Who should have the bigger moose? Norways’ Storelgen, or Moose Jaws’ Mac?
Ever since Storelgen took the tallest moose crown from Mac, politicians in Canada and Norway have had their antlers tangled.
Mac the Moose was the tallest moose in the world for 31 years, now Storelgen is taller by only 30 centimetres.
Moose Jaw Mayor Fraser Tolmie has been working to ensure that Mac will reclaim his tallest moose title.
“It was decided that Mac is going to shed his adolescent antlers and get an adult rack,” said Tolmie.
Tolmie believes Mac is a large part of the Moose Jaw community and that the moose is “woven into Canadian culture.”
“It was intentional from the Norwegians to take the title from us. And I don’t see the connection with moose there in Norway but I do see the connection with Canada,” said Tolmie.
The city of Moose Jaw was taking in suggestions for how they can make Mac bigger. One person who suggested the bigger antlers was Marina Cole, a chainsaw artist from Irvine, Alberta. Irvine is about 30 minutes East of Medicine Hat.
“You know what, I think that here in Canada we should have the biggest moose and shame on you, Norway. You knew we had the biggest moose and you tried to beat us,” said Cole.
Cole said she originally sent Tolmie a message, but she now finds her name in the mix for who may help Mac grow a bigger rack.
“I love a challenge and you know what, I would love to be part of it for sure and make it as big as we can make it and blow it out of the water,” said Cole.
Cole was originally inspired to start chainsaw carving from a wooden dragon. Although the moose is a far different animal, Cole has found herself right in the middle of the debate.
“It’s Moose Jaw. It’s ‘Moose’ Jaw! It just needs to be in Canada and in Moose Jaw. It is a Canadian thing and we need to be the biggest in the world,” said Cole.
Back in Moose Jaw, a GoFundMe page has been started with the goal of raising $50,000 for Macs’ new improvements.
Jacki L’Heureux-Mason, Executive Director of Tourism Moose Jaw believes the worldwide focus on Mac may help bring people into Moose Jaw.
“I think we’ve registered over 300,000 mentions that we could find (on social media), and that’s just based on the hashtags we were tracking,” said Mason, “Mac isn’t just Moose Jaws, it’s all of Canada’s.”
Mason said she’s even seen the story covered on Chinese news.
Even though Mac may be the taller moose soon, Mayor Tolmie says that Norway plans to respond.
“Norway has been trying to say they’ll go out and build a bigger moose. But I think the financial estimate was $1.5 million to do that and I told them that I don’t want to see them bankrupt their country over this,” said Tolmie.
