A group of kind-hearted loggers have filmed their daring effort to rescue a moose after it became trapped in an icy lake.

Rescuers Byron Holbik, Mark Wellington and Jordan Hay were radioed for help by co-worker Darren Whalley after he spotted the animal stranded in Lake Windigoostigwan in Ontario province, Canada.

The mother moose had been in the water for hours, and it would be a race against time to pull the heavy animal out.

But in heartwarming footage, the group can be seen tirelessly cutting up the ice with chainsaw and then breaking blocks to create an escape channel for the freezing animal to use.

Holbik said he had seen the same moose with a calf earlier in the day, February 7, in the area near a bridge at the top of the lake – miles from the nearest town.

He said the water was about 12 feet deep, and the moose couldn’t touch the bottom and would soon have dr.o.w.ned.

A group of kind-hearted Canadian loggers have filmed their daring effort to rescue a trapped moose after it became trapped in an icy lake

‘Darren was already on site and he had a bit of a plan,’ Holbik said. ‘He figured we could make a channel in the ice and then use the poles either to guide her out.’

‘She was exhausted from treading water for hours. The water was about 12 feet deep where she went in.’

They started cutting a channel for the moose but soon realised the water wasn’t getting any shallower even towards the shore.

‘So I went onto the thinner ice to see if it was shallower closer to the mouth of the river that flows into this lake and it was.

‘So we cut a channel about 20 feet in length to shallower water.

‘Then we began to guide her using the poles to move ice out of the way.’

Rescuers Byron Holbik, Mark Wellington and Jordan Hay were radioed for help by co-worker Darren Whalley after he spotted the animal stranded in Lake Windigoostigwan in Ontario province, Canada

Finally the moose found bottom and started to walk in the water toward the ice edge.

‘In the video, you can see she ends up standing and then flopping onto the ice,’ said Holbik. Then the animal was able to catch her breath for ‘about five to seven minutes’.

When she finally got back up to move, Holbik said he was careful to move towards her so she wouldn’t get back into the deeper water.

After the group made several calls at the moose she eventually wandered off towards a forest, avoiding anymore mishaps.

‘We felt it was our duty to help her get out. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind about helping her get out.’