Carrick to Calgary

We have a new lodger to announce - Morris the Musk Ox! He's a refugee from the Bedroom Outfitters shop, and was rescued today for the princely sum of 15 Canadian dollars in the Spring Sale. He joins fellow refugees Barbara and Bobby Buffalo in our upstairs Native Canadian Rusty Animal Sanctuary.



Note the wee short legs



Spot the resemblance


Bobby and Barbara Buffalo

As it turns out, Musk Oxes are a bit like buffalos, except a bit bigger and shaggier. Hence the reason why Morris appears to have wee stumpy legs. They apparently start to smell a bit musky when excited (don't ask) and if you chase them down they form a defensive circle, which is why they were easy to hunt in the early 1900s, cos you just waited until they formed a circle and then shot all of them. It's been illegal to hunt them since 1916, and there are now loads living free up in the autonomous First Nations region of Nunavut. And one rusty one in Calgary.

Learn more about the non-rusty variety of the musk ox here, here and here

P.S. While we were shopping for rusty animals we happened across a new bed which we got for the upcoming summer flood of visitors... So Jean and Denise will now have somewhere to sleep!