Stoughton man saves his mom from death during a moose attack
February 9, 2026, 11:05 am
Stephanie Zoer
January 22, 2026, seemed to be an ordinary day although it was bitterly cold outside with wind chills of -48. Shawn Tuffnell from Stoughton often stayed at his mom’s, Angie Tuffnell’s acreage near Bienfait if the weather was unruly.
He worked in Alameda and this cut his travel time considerably in bad weather.
Angie had been outside a few times that morning having a smoke. At 7:25 a.m. Shawn asked her to start his vehicle as he got ready for work. She did not mind and headed outside to start the vehicle and have a cigarette. She usually had one in the garage, but Shawn’s car was outside.
As she ventured outside, she heard a noise, and before she could even get to Shawn’s car or turn around and run to the house, a bull moose went on the attack, smashing her to the concrete pad. He loomed over her with his ears pinned back. Angie began to scream.
Shawn thought he heard a noise from his mom and went outside to see what the commotion was and saw the moose over his mom.
Wearing only a t-shirt and in his underwear, he ran outside. He took three steps to the moose and punched it in the lips. This did nothing and only made the bull aggressive. He grabbed a shovel and hit it with the force of a baseball bat swinging at it twice in the head.
“I was hoping this would bring the bull off of my mom, as I was afraid it was going to kill her,” said Shawn.
The moose came towards him and Shawn began backing up towards the door of the house. At this time, he tripped, but so did the moose, but he was halfway through the door.
“My adrenaline was pumping and I did not even feel the cold,” said Shawn. Shawn began yelling at Angie’s boyfriend Dave Alexander to get the gun. Dave was still in bed but by now he could hear the all the noise.
By this time Shawn had grabbed the bull around the neck.
“They have very large heads and since it could not stomp on me it tried biting me,” he said. The moose continued to look back at Angie. Shawn had told his mom to lie still and not make any noise.
Shawn said he tried to poke the bull in the eyes, as he felt if the moose could not see, it was a better chance for all of them, especially his mom who still lay on the concrete in the freezing cold.
The moose backed away from Shawn attempting to get back to Angie and this is when Shawn was able to shoot the animal in the eye. This still did not deter the animal, and Shawn would need to shoot the moose multiple times and even had a chance to reload the gun and fire some more rounds into the bull before it dropped to the ground. As the animal fell, Shawn needed to grab it, as it fell towards his mom, missing her face by only a few inches.
Shawn is a volunteer firefighter for the Stoughton Tecumseh Department. He checked his mom over to make sure that her injuries were not life-threatening.
They took her to St. Joseph’s hospital in Estevan were she was evaluated.
The moose had stomped on the calf of her leg which was ripped open requiring several layers of stitches. Her ankle was bruised, along with her elbow, hip and ribs and she had a goose egg on her head. Many other bruises were felt later on in the day.
Shawn also had a three-inch goose egg on his head and a broken rib. He figured this happened when he fell backwards into the house. The whole attack went on for about three minutes.
Upon observation of the moose, Shawn said it was quite thin and it must have been laying around the corner of the house. The yard light had recently broken, so the moose was most likely not afraid to come close to the dark area.
Conservation Officers were called about the incident, and rabies testing was performed on the animal. They came back negative, but further testing was done. At this time, the family has opted to take rabies shots to be on the safe side.
“Mom is very overwhelmed with what happened,” said Shawn, whose mom is still very shaken up about the incident.
When the attack was happening they both felt that the outcome was not going to be good.
Shawn suggests that people be aware of their surroundings. If your yard light breaks, get it replaced right away. When it is really cold, a wild animal may lay by a dryer vent, as it produces warm air, and never attempt to confront a wild animal. If a person sees a moose close by, run the other way.
Shawn is grateful that his mom survived, and he is very thankful for Dave who was able to get him the gun.
“Without Dave in the house getting the gun, I feel the outcome would have been much more tragic,” he said.
