Moose Jaw and Norway battle over world's tallest moose statue

The city of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan has started a feud with the Norwegians as the country has claimed the title of having the world's tallest moose statue.

For decades, Moose Jaw's "Mac the Moose" held the record as it stood at almost 10 metres tall. But then, Norway put up a silver moose statue between its capital city of Oslo and Trondheim, narrowly edging out Mac by 30 centimetres.

Not being able to stomach the defeat, Tourism Moose Jaw launched a campaign asking for suggestion on how the city can win back the title. One of the ideas is to have Mac wear a Saskatchewan Roughriders helmet.

People in Norway are aware of the campaign and say they are prepared to lock antlers with Moose Jaw to keep the honour.

Moose Jaw Mayor Fraser Tolmie explained he was taking the fight personally, mentioning his family has connections to Mac because it was named after his wife's great-uncle Les Mackenzie.

"There are some things you just don’t do to Canadians — you don’t water down their beer, you don’t tell them they can’t put maple syrup on their pancakes and you don’t mess with Mac the Moose,” said Tolmie.

"(The Norwegians) purposely built a moose bigger than ours, but we’re going to be dignified and we’re going to win.”

Community members in Moose Jaw have created a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising $50,000 towards whatever additions the statue needs. Tourism Moose Jaw added that Mac, who weighs 9,000 kilograms, won an award in 2013 for being Moose Jaw's best celebrity.

With files from the Canadian Press.