Viewpoint: Moose on the Loose
Last week we decided to take a few days off, get away from it all, rest, and relax. One of our favorite, not too far away places is Buena Vista. We rented a cabin on the west end of town and decided to take our kayak up to Cottonwood Lake.
We unloaded the kayak and our son ventured forth in the water while Lori and I went to the other side of the lake. I let Lori out and I went a little further up the road to park the pickup. As I got to a set of wooden stairs down to the lake, I heard a lot of noise to my right. I looked, and for the first time in my life, saw a moose rambling down the trail.
Moose weigh between 500-1500 pounds. Without trying to be too loud, I called Lori and wanted to warn her in the event she hadn’t seen it. At the same time a guy down on the dock called his wife, also wanting to make sure she was safe from the ‘moose on the loose’.
The moose wasn’t worried about any of us and went straight into the water and began swimming the length of the lake. He made a small adjustment as he got farther away from shore and it pretty much looked to us that he was swimming toward our son. It pretty much looked that way to our son also, who made an adjustment of his own. After the moose passed him, he and everyone else on the water trailed the moose across the lake.
My wife and son insisted that moose can be killers and have a pretty aggressive nature. In a paper published in 2019 about animals killing humans, I found the following: “Moose also attack people when they feel threatened. During the 1990s, two people were killed by moose in Anchorage, Alaska; a man was stomped to death on the University of Alaska campus, and a woman was trampled to death in her yard (Conover 2002).”
That’s four people, by my count, since the 1990’s.
Another place I looked up made the statement that in Alaska you are more likely to die by moose than by bear. Here is that information. “Although moose aren't more dangerous than bears in terms of behavior, they pose a greater threat of injuring you simply because of their population size. Moose outnumber bears nearly three to one in Alaska, wounding around five to 10 people in the state annually. That's more than grizzly bear and black bear attacks combined.”
I sent a picture of the moose to some friends who have been to Cottonwood Lake with us. While we were there one of them made the statement that some of the swamp-like land on one end of the lake was a prime spot for moose. Lori and I just nodded our heads knowingly. We had been to Cottonwood Lake and had never seen a moose, swamp or no swamp. Well, at least until we did see a Moose. Do you have to eat crow when the subject of your error is moose? Something to ponder.
I also read that the number of moose attacks spike in September and October during mating season, and early spring when mothers are protecting their young calves. I also understand moose aren’t too fond of dogs and it’s a bad idea to feed them.
In Alaska, feeding a moose carries up to a $10,000 fine and one year in prison. I guess Alaska has an estimated 175,000 moose. Wouldn’t that be impressive? One was pretty impressive all by itself.
Who knows, next time we go to Cottonwood Lake we may see sasquatch.