The War is On: Canada to Snatch 'World’s Tallest Moose Statue' Title from Norway

For three decades, the Canadian city of Moose Jaw could boast that it was home to world’s tallest moose statue, but in 2015 Norway broke their record. Now, the Canadians want to take the title back with a crowdfunding campaign.

Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan and home to the second-largest moose statue in the world. However, for 31 years, 10-metre-tall 'Mac the Moose' could look down on all other moose statues everywhere…until Norway built a bigger one, according to The Guardian.

Mac the Moose was named the city's most popular celebrity in 2013; the statue has survived graffiti attacks, aggressive weather and even the loss of his jaw. However, in 2015, Norway took Mac's title, reportedly on purpose.

In 2015, Norway rolled out a Moose sculpture of its own — the magnificent Storelgen ("The Big Elk"). Created by Norwegian artist Linda Bakke, the sculpture is made entirely of shiny stainless steel and was intentionally created as a "tourist trap" for motorists travelling between Oslo and Trondheim. Norwegian authorities believed it would encourage drivers to make a pit-stop and therefore reduce the amount of tiredness-related traffic incidents, according to the Daily Scandinavian.

Naturally, the proud residents of Moose jaw weren't content to take it on the chin.

Oh yeah, Moose Jaw, how could I forget. I spent a couple years there one month. pic.twitter.com/i8x6jxqtcw

— Old Man Detroit River (@JosephSlowvak) 18 января 2019 г.

​Just Reves, a local resident, has set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise $50,000 required to alter the statue in order to make it 31 centimetres taller, which would put it back into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Storelgen (The Big Elk) https://t.co/VCZKTHXl2O pic.twitter.com/tmBeS8F6Ws

— NewsUpdate24 🇳🇴 & 🌍 (@NewsUpdate24Nor) 26 сентября 2018 г.

​The initiative was endorsed by city Mayor Fraser Tolmie.

"You may not know this, but it's personal for me," he said in a Facebook video, in which he divulged that the moose was named after his wife's great uncle. "Mac the Moose was the tallest in the world, and the people of Norway have taken that from us. I'm not going to stand for it."

Curiously, the Norwegians have already said they will do whatever they can to keep things the way they are.

"We're not letting this one go. Not a chance. We're going to do whatever we can to make sure this is the world's tallest moose — or biggest moose in the future, as well," said Linda Otnes Henriksen, Stor-Elvdal's deputy mayor, in a video posted to Facebook.

According to the report in The Guardian, the municipality staff is prepared to double the size of the statue — all with the artist's permission — if it needs to. Henriksen said she is open to the idea of crowdfunding for the statue, but noted that she intends to see what the Canadians are going to do, first.

Meanwhile, the Canadians have yet to decide how exactly they are going to make their statue taller. So far, the two options on the table are simply increasing the size of its antlers or giving the moose a tall helmet.