Sunday, June 04, 2017

In May eight people learned the hard way that Alaskan moose are dangerous.

Big nope right here.
Courtesy of ADN: 

A moose attack in an Eagle River neighborhood, which sent a woman to the hospital with serious injuries, was just one of eight run-ins with Anchorage's most visible urban animal resulting in injuries in May, officials said. 

The woman was either jogging with or walking her dogs in the Eaglewood subdivision on May 22 when she got too close to a cow moose and its two calves, said Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Dave Battle. 

"She didn't have time. … The moose attacked her, and came back twice, which is why she was injured so badly," said Eaglewood operations manager Mark McAllister. 

Anecdotally, eight moose encounters resulting in injuries is a lot, said Fish and Game public information officer Ken Marsh. There may have been more encounters, but many go unreported, as is often the case with wildlife incidents, Marsh said.

Eight does seem a little high, though aggressive moose encounters are certainly not rare in Anchorage. 

I have lived here for 57 years, and thankfully my few run ins with our giant ungulates have been relatively minor.

I was once chased back to my car after accidentally walking through an open gate which panicked the ungodly large bull moose chewing on leaves from a tree in back yard and sent it hurtling in my direction with antlers set on "skewer."

Another close call was during my paper route days when I accidentally hit a newborn calf with a carelessly tossed rolled up newspaper while distracted by its large and intimidating mother.

Fortunately she accepted my profuse apology which was delivered in hushed tones as I slowly backed away from the yard.

There have been a few others on bike trails, hiking trips, and once even on horseback, but they were less urine inducing, and not really worth mentioning.

However in Anchorage there have been some really unfortunate encounters, some quite fatal, which should serve to remind us all that just because they appear tame and even check both ways before crossing the highway, does NOT mean they are even remotely domesticated. 

11 comments:

  1. We get the same problem with wild horses. "But, they're just horses," says the person who gets chased away from the herd. 700 pounds of wild. That's small as horses go, but our guys are tough.

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  2. WA Skeptic6:35 AM

    It would be interesting to learn the difference between "fatal" and "quite fatal", just so I can avoid the latter! Thanks for the chuckle.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:10 AM

      LOL! You noticed that too!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous7:37 AM

    Years ago took the kids to "Moose Ally" a stretch of highway in rural NH. It's popular with tourists because the moose come to feed there in the evenings. People will park alongside of the road to watch them. While we were there a Japanese/Chinese? guy with a camera (you get the idea) starts creeping through the grass to get a closer shot of a mother and her calf!!!! We could see the mother was getting agitated so we decided it might be a good idea to leave before a moose started charging. Not a good optic for the kids, you know??

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:39 PM

      Yellowstone valley,Japanese family. Bison herd crossing road . Woman jumps out dragging kids. Its a photo op . Pics with bison ! I jumped out and started motioning and telling the lady get in your car!!!! They think it's a petting zoo.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous8:47 AM

    "Some quite fatal". What were the others, just slightly fatal?

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    Replies
    1. To me, fatal means you go to the hospital and have a chance but don't make it.

      Quite fatal would be no way, you're dead on the spot.

      Sorta the difference between being gored by a bull and dying later and being stomped into a pulp on site. The former being fatal and the later being quite fatal.

      Delete
  5. Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just got back from a vacation in Yosemite.

    Most dangerous animals there?

    Deer.

    Did not see or hear a bear the entire time. There are only about 4-10 bears in the entire valley.

    Did not see a deer until my second to last day and then it was in broad daylight. Saw several at the Majestic.

    Then my last morning there were 4-5 of them walking around Half Dome village like they owned the place. And they do. They didn't care about people walking, dogs or cars. They simply continued on their way.

    The rangers tell everyone to give the dear a wide berth. It's not the antlers you have to be careful of, they say. (These deer didn't have antlers at the time.) Nope. They'll run at you and knock you to the ground, then stomp on you.

    So I'm just increasing that visual to moose-size. I imagine it wouldn't take much of a tap by a moose to send you to the ground where one stomp would pretty much settle the matter.

    Looking cute or non-threatening is immaterial.

    Hippos are the most dangerous animal in Africa and account for the most deaths. But they are so darn cute.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:30 PM

      There are hundreds of bears in Yosemite. Some of them probably saw, heard, and smelled you and decided to give you a wide berth.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous4:14 PM

    We have people feeding and taking selfies with our local alligators in SC. Yes, people are dumb.

    ReplyDelete

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