Adventurous young moose swims to one of most remote islands in Finland, photos show
A quiet morning on a remote island off the Finland coast was interrupted by a rare — and adventurous — visitor: a young moose.
Jorma Tenovuo was up early birdwatching on the island of Utö when he spotted something in the water on Tuesday, June 13, he wrote on Facebook.
Its nose and head poking out of the water, a moose swam along the sunlit water, photos shows. Tenovuo recognized the animal as a young male moose, he said.
Although moose are common across much of Finland, these large deer are an “extremely rare” sight for Utö island, the Finnish news outlet Yle reported.
Utö island is one of the most remote islands in Finland’s outer archipelago, according to regional authorities. The rocky, relatively barren island is the only island in the area where people live year-round.
Reaching Utö island usually involves a 4.5-hour ferry ride into the Baltic Sea, officials said. The Baltic Sea is bordered by Finland and Sweden to the north and several other European countries to the south.
“This is so far out to sea that (moose) don’t like to come here,” Tenovuo told Yle.
But one adventurous moose made the journey.
The moose came from the direction of Kökar island, about 19 miles northwest of Utö island, Tenovuo said. In between these islands are several uninhabited islands where the moose could have stopped on its way.
Tenovuo saw the moose come ashore at the northern edge of Utö island before swimming across the bay to the southern edge. Photos show the moose walking up the rocky shore and walking through small bushes. The animal stayed on the island for about 20 minutes before continuing its journey, he said on Facebook.
Tenovuo said he has lived on Utö for 16 years and had never seen a moose on the island.
Yle reported the unusual visitor was the first in 40 years. Another Finnish news outlet, Turun Sanomat, said this was the island’s first moose sighting in decades.
Moose are strong swimmers known to go several miles in one swim, the Finnish news outlet Ilta Sanomat reported.
Using a telescope, Tenovuo watched the moose swim another hour to reach a smaller island of Alunskäri before losing track of the animal, he said on Facebook.
“What happened next is a mystery,” Tenovuo told Yle. The next island past Alunskäri is Hiiumaa, Estonia — over 60 miles away, he said.
Jyrki Pusenius, a wildlife researcher with the Natural Resources Institute Finland, told Yle that the moose was probably looking for a large wooded island to call home.
Google Translate was used to translate Jorma Tenovuo’s Facebook post and the articles from Turun Sanomat and Ilta Sanomat.
This story was originally published June 15, 2023 at 9:10 AM with the headline "Adventurous young moose swims to one of most remote islands in Finland, photos show."
