IRASBURG, VT. (AP) -- Pete the Moose munched on apples, bananas and a Snickers candy bar blissfully unaware of his near-demise, a fate averted by lawmakers and helped along by thousands of fans online.
Vermont's favorite animal, ordered removed last year from a game preserve or destroyed, will now be allowed to stay on the land near the U.S.-Canada border under a compromise fashioned by state lawmakers last week.
The turnabout came after the 700-pound moose's tale of woe went viral, prompting a "Save Pete the Moose" website, a Facebook page, about 10,000 YouTube views and a rally at Vermont's statehouse.
"It's the best I could've hoped for," said David Lawrence, 74, who nursed him to health and tends to him at the Big Rack Ridge preserve. "They wanted to kill Peter."
The fenced-in 700-acre preserve, which charges hunters to kill trophy elk, is also home to white-tailed deer and a handful of moose - including Pete.
He was adopted as a calf after dogs attacked his mother and a sibling.
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