Well now, let's see......the arguably most civilized race on the planet, don their red coats and black boots and helmets, climb up on a cross country trained horse, assemble their pack of dogs and then go out and run down foxes all day. Which the dogs tear to pieces when they have run it into the ground and it can no longer run. This is classed as "high sport" there.
The Spaniards of old California used to ride out and fence (sword fight) with the local grizzlies until the bear would pop a blood vessel in their brain and keel over, or if they got bored would blind it and just ride off.....great fun, all things considered.
And how about the "ORIGINAL" silhouette shooters...........again the Spaniards, who would commission the local natives to catch them javelina, Rio Grande turkeys, and desert rams, (I don't recall what kind of game bird they shot at 200 mtrs) stake them out at the appropriate distances and then take turns shooting at them offhand, while some serious betting and drinking went on.......Then we have #### fighting, bull fighting, dog fighting...........all considered great fun by those involved, but a tad hard on the critters involved......
Now I don't know anything about the photos of Teddy and the moose logger, but I know for a fact that at least 2 gentlemen in the Yukon during the gold rush tamed and rode moose around Dawson City. The "REAL" photos are in the museum..........or at least they were 30 years ago (long before photoshop), and I have heard of two more gentlemen in Alaska around the same time having "a good moose under them ". I believe there are photos in North Pole and in Fairbanks, again long before photoshop.
And how about Jimmy Anderson who chased stone sheep and caribou with his super cub into nets and then landed, tackled and hog tied them, threw them in the cub, flew them down the mountain and sold them to Al Oemings game farm...........
And then there are the problem grizzlies and blackies that are darted and transported else where...........so what you say..........how about the fact they don't tell you, mortality rate exceeds 50%.
So as I said a little moose hitchhiking is way down on the list of sports harmful to game animals, and given the size of them and their ability to fight back and the water temps they are to be found in, I doubt it will reach epidemic proportions and become a serious threat to the mental health of the moose population, in general.