Meese
(This image is a Photoshop-ed fake, but an interesting one.)
In a recent story, The Elg Herra, I greatly enjoyed turning moose from the forlorn forest roamers that they are, and into massive war mounts and beasts of burden.
I did get some guff about the unlikeliness of domesticating such an animal, but, in truth, I certainly wasn’t the first to consider attempting to tame the lanky monsters.
From the wikipedia:
Domestication of moose was investigated in the Soviet Union before World War II. Early experiments were inconclusive, but with the creation of a moose farm at Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve in 1949 a small-scale moose domestication program was started, involving attempts at selective breeding of animals based on their behavioural characteristics. Since 1963, the programme has continued at Kostroma Moose Farm, which had a herd of 33 tame moose as of 2003.
This picture, originally found on Archives Alberta, depicts people carrying out activity not unlike that mentioned in the story.
The unusual beasts of burden pictured here were a pair of moose, hand-raised by owner Peachy Prouden. The photo was taken at Athabasca Landing, Alberta in 1898.
Although snapped 60 years after the time of the Blackhall tales, this was coincidentally taken just east of where Thomas first encounters the Moose Lords of the Northern Reaches.
Also, Peachy Prouden is a fantastic name.