Sports

A soccer-playing moose? Just call it Lionel MOOSE-i

Brittany Wilderom lives in Homer, Alaska and is used to seeing wildlife as she goes about her daily life, but a moose playing soccer was something new.

Viral moment has racked up millions of views in just a few days

The story behind the viral video of a moose playing soccer

4 years ago
Duration 1:23
Brittany Wilderom pulled out her phone at the perfect moment to capture a moose joining their pickup soccer game in Homer, Alaska.

Living in Homer, Alaska, Brittany Wilderom is used to sometimes having to stop playing pick-up soccer with her friends  in order to give space for a wild animal wandering too close.

But this past Wednesday was the first time she felt compelled to film the encounter, because soccer great Lionel Moose-i had taken the field. 

Yes, there was a moose on the loose on the soccer pitch. 

The 25-year-old and her teammates left the field to give space to the young moose that had decided to wander on the field, but what they didn't expect was for it to begin dribbling with a soccer ball that had rolled near — a moose-ing itself if you will. 

Wilderom ran to grab her camera and caught the tail-end of the moose's mad skills. 

"It was really into hanging out on the soccer field," Wilderom told CBC Sports. "It was having a good old time.

"It's such a surreal, odd, occurrence." 

She posted the video to her Instagram account and it immediately went viral, the moment racked up millions of views across the internet.

"I did not expect this type of reaction," she said, adding the best comment she had seen was someone who called the animal Lionel Moose-i, after Argentine superstar Lionel Messi.

At this time it's still unclear who the mystery moose actually was; he remains anony-moose.