Police and game officials who were trying to guide a rogue moose out of Burlington, Vt., made a surprising discovery as they tracked the animal — a marijuana grow-op.

Dave LeCours, the chief warden of Vermont, told CBC's As It Happens host Carol Off that the moose got into a "fairly urban area...by Vermont standards" and was trying to find its way out.

"We helped to guide him in the right direction," he said.

In the course of coaxing the moose along, officials went past a shed that had a fan blowing.

"As the officers passed by this fan, it was a putrid smell of growing marijuana."

Officers applied for a search warrant and came back later — shutting down the "relatively small" grow-op, which LeCours estimated was about 12 plants or fewer.