''Mac the Moose'' is a steel and concrete sculpture of a

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. It is on the grounds of Moose Jaw's visitors' center, on the corner of E Thatcher Drive and the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

. It is claimed to be the world's largest moose at tall and a weight of approximately .

History

''Mac the Moose'' was built in 1984 by

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

artist Don Foulds with the goal of attracting visitors to the city. The construction process involved a steel frame covered with metal mesh and four coats of cement. A contest was held to name the moose, with the name "Mac" being chosen after Les MacKenzie. The giant moose was one of the city's first tourist attractions. The project was completed in May 1984. In 2004, ''Mac'' was moved using a

flatbed truck A flatbed truck (or flatbed lorry in British English) is a type of truck which can be either articulated or rigid. As the name suggests, its bodywork is just an entirely flat, level 'bed' with no sides or roof. This allows for quick and easy load ...

and is now just off of the

Trans-Canada highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

next to the Moose Jaw visitors' center. Although ''Mac'' has been vandalized many times (once being painted blue and other physical damage was done, including losing his jaw), he still stands, although surrounded by a fence in 2009. In 2013, Mac was honoured by the ''Moose Jaw Times Herald'' as Moose Jaw's Best Celebrity.

Rivalry

After 31 years of holding the title of the world's largest moose, in 2015 ''Mac the Moose'' was surpassed by another moose statue in

Stor-Elvdal Stor-Elvdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Koppang. Other villages in the municipality include Atna, Even ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, called '' The Big Elk'' (

(''Alces alces'') are often called elk in Europe). ''The Big Elk'' stood about taller. In an interview with ''

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-and ...

'' on the subject, Moose Jaw's mayor Deb Higgins wasn't bothered, stating that "I think we’ve won the battle, first and foremost that Mac's reputation has spread to Norway and beyond." Subsequently, ''Mac the Moose'' was billed as North America's largest moose, with ''Tourism Moose Jaw'' referring to it as the "World's Second Largest Moose". In January 2019, two Canadian comedians urged Moose Jaw residents to add to ''Mac''s height (likely by extending his antlers or giving him a helmet), so that the moose statue would once again win the title of the world's largest moose. The Norwegians responded and have stated that they will not give up the world record without a fight. News outlets from all over the globe have mentioned the contest. The Canadians do have one edge over Norway—their moose was built by Canadians in the country where it resides, making it essentially a 'native' moose; the Norway statue instead, while being conceived by Norwegian artist Linda Bakke, was erected in China and imported largely as a cost-saving measure. In October 2019, ''Mac'' reclaimed the title of the world's tallest moose when a new set of antlers was installed, raising its height to .

References

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External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20090228185615/http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/sask/mac.html *http://www.roadsideattractions.ca/mjmoose.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20081121141539/http://tourism.sasktelwebhosting.com/mac.php *https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/prisen-pa-ny-20-meter-hoy-elg-i-gull-er-klar/70686330 Buildings and structures in Moose Jaw Roadside attractions in Canada 1984 sculptures Concrete sculptures in Canada Animal sculptures in Canada Vandalized works of art in Canada Deer in art