Caribou rescued by fish harvesters in icy waters of Newfoundland harbour

PORT AU CHOIX – What would have been a regular Friday afternoon quickly turned into one to remember for Brendon Gould.

Gould was home in the northwest Newfoundland town of Port au Choix on Jan. 23 when his mother rang his phone, telling him about a caribou she saw struggling to keep itself afloat in some icy waters in the harbour.

He immediately alerted wildlife services, before grabbing a few axes and heading out.

“I had full intentions of trying to chop my way out to the caribou to try to get it to shore if need be,” he recalled in a recent interview. “But by the time I got out to the harbour, I’d seen a boat coming back towards the caribou.”

In an email, the Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Lands said that when its conservation officers arrived at the scene, “two local fish harvesters … were already clearing a path through the ice with their fishing vessel.”

The two men turned out to be Gould’s father and his father’s friend. The duo rescued the caribou by meticulously clearing the ice around the animal with their boat, forming a path for the caribou to swim toward the beach.

The department commended both of them for rescuing the animal safely, “and in doing so keeping a safe distance and for not attempting to touch or handle the caribou, since wild animals can be dangerous and unpredictable when approached.”

Gould said he watched as the caribou “made its way back to the beach and jumped on the ice and shook off and ran up the road.” He captured the water rescue on video, saying his family spent nearly half an hour getting the animal to safety.

Gould said the caribou was likely in the water upwards of half an hour — longer if it had been struggling a while before his mother noticed.

“I love caribou, I would never want to see any harm come to the caribou here in town,” he said, adding that people often visit his community just to see them hang around local lighthouses. Port au Choix is a fishing village home to about 750 people, according to the latest census, and located about 475 kilometres northwest of St. John’s.

Gould’s video on Instagram has collected nearly one million views with comments applauding him and his family for documenting the rescue and helping the animal.

The province’s wildlife service advises anyone who encounters an animal in distress to report the situation to the nearest forest management district office or call 709-685-7273.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2026.

— By Fatima Raza in Toronto