FREDERICTON, New Brunswick (AP) – An orphaned baby moose named Baz has been seized from the northern New Brunswick family that was raising him and sent to a wildlife preserve in Nova Scotia.

Peter Cousineau and his mother, Alaine, found the newborn calf lying on the driveway of their Pokemouche home three weeks ago and nursed him back to health.

Cousineau said Friday he was heartbroken when provincial game wardens executed a warrant and took the baby bull moose into custody, citing provincial laws that make it illegal for people to keep wild animals.

“We were very sad to see him go,” Cousineau said.

“We thought this was the most perfect place he could have been. We have a large farm here with open woods and meadows. It’s a natural place for a moose to live wild and free.”

Cousineau said he is petitioning the New Brunswick government, hoping officials will have a change of heart and allow Baz to return to the only home he has known.

“We haven’t heard back,” Cousineau said of his request. “But I like to think there’s always a chance.”

However, Brent Roy, spokesman for New Brunswick’s Natural Resources Department, said there is no chance.

Roy said the province takes a very dim view of people who adopt wild animals.

“We don’t condone this sort of thing at all,” Roy said.

“Anyone who takes a wild animal into captivity could be charged under the Fish and Wildlife Act. It is always best to leave the wild in the wild.”

Roy said Baz was checked by a veterinarian before being transported to the Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, wildlife preserve on Friday.

He said the moose is in good shape, but the trip and the changes will be very hard on him.

“People should let nature take its course,” he said.

“Once there’s human intervention, it usually doesn’t turn out well.”

Cousineau said there was no way he and his mother could simply turn their backs on the pathetic, abandoned moose he found dying in his driveway three weeks ago.

He said Baz was born in a ditch alongside a highway near his home, and the mother became spooked by the traffic and curious onlookers.

People passing by put the newborn moose in the woods in hopes the mother would return. But more than a day later, the calf appeared on the Cousineau driveway, unable to stand, dehydrated and apparently close to death.

“He couldn’t even cry anymore,” Cousineau said. “He was finished. We took pity on him, brought him into the kitchen and started feeding him with a baby bottle.”

Cousineau said everyone fell in love with the sweet-natured moose. “People came from all over to see him and help feed him,” he said.

“He was a real people moose. He kissed everyone and wasn’t scared at all of human beings.”

Cousineau said his 83-year-old mother, Alaine, developed an especially close relationship with Baz, who liked to curl up next to her.

He said that in the three weeks Baz lived with them, he gained nearly 25 pounds and grew 6 to 8 inches taller.

Cousineau said that whatever happens to Baz now, he believes he and his mother gave the little moose a good start in life.

“He was on his way,” he said. “He was adapting and coming along, eating small spruce buds. I thought things were going well. But that’s not what the Natural Resources people wanted.”

AP-ES-06-15-07 1556EDT