The two incidents were the latest in a string of unusual moose behaviour in Norway. The country has a large moose population, but the huge animals are generally shy and stay away from people and populated areas.
All the more reason why Reidar Stenmark was stunned when two "well-grown moose calves" stormed out of a forest in Nordland on Sunday and attacked a dogsled he was guiding.
"I yelled and screamed at the moose to scare them away, but they didn't pay any attention to me," Stenmark told local newspaper Avisa Nordland.
Stenmark was out exercising his dogs when the two moose suddenly crossed their path and started running directly for the dogs. One of his dogs was hurled over on his side, while another was kicked.
"I knew we had to get away," Stenmark said. He said he managed to get his lead dogs, named Sjakk and Anette, to react, but they didn't manage to get all the other shocked dogs to pull together and run.
The dogs finally did start barking and squealing and moving to get flee the angry moose. Both Stenmark and his dogs escaped in remarkably good shape, with only some bruises.
There was no indication of what prompted the moose to attack, just as wildlife officials further south in Lillehammer were baffled as to why a fully grown moose ran through a plate glass window at a downtown shop on Saturday.
That incident began about 11am, when the store was open for business. Shocked customers and staff suddenly heard glass shatter and had a confused moose in their midst.
"I got really scared," clerk Randi Espås told TV2. She and her customers ran out of the store and called for help.
Police, firefighters and wildlife officials quickly cordoned off the area and tried to lure the moose, which was bleeding from cuts caused by broken glass, outside, to no avail. They finally managed to shoot him with a tranquilizer gun and haul him out of the store.
Some officials speculate that the moose was hungry and had wandered into the former Olympic town in search of food. Confused or in a panic, the moose was then drawn by the reflection of the glass window and lights within the store.
A similar incident occured in Elverum last summer, when a moose broke into a local grocery store. In both cases, the animals caused lots of interior damage and had to be destroyed because of their injuries.
