Man kicks moose

HOUSTON — Thursday morning, an unidentified man went to retrieve firewood to find a moose laying on his stack of lumber. He thought a kick would move the wild animal off of his wood. He did not expect the moose to return the favor. His foot was injured and he was taken to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

It is yet undetermined if it was a sweeping, field-goal like kick or a downward stomping motion that the man delivered, but the hooves of the moose were more powerful. According to Christian Hartley, Houston Fire Chief, the home sits adjacent to the Little Susitna River. The nearby fire department responded to make sure the area was clear. Response was rapid as the incident occured very close to Fire Station 9-1, but the adult and juvenile moose had fled the scene by then.

“It’s always prudent to remember that wildlife is wild, it’s not tame. It’s not habituated to people. Avoid confrontation with wildlife,” said Hartley.

While moose encounters are always a possibility in the Mat-Su Valley, early springtime poses a particularly dangerous time of year for human-moose interaction.

“The snow drives them down in the spring and that’s why we have moose all over the Valley. As the snow melts they’ll start spreading out and going back up the hill,” said Tim Peltier, Area Biologist at the Palmer Department of Fish and Game office. “This is when they’re the most nutritionally stressed and so it’s never too good of an idea to get too close to a moose now and calving and during the rut in the fall are the times that you really want to be wary of what they’re doing.”

Peltier recommended patience, keeping a wide distance between you and the moose, and loud noises if you encounter a moose in an area where you need to pass like a trail, in front of your house or vehicle.