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Moose Are Prevalent In Park City's Neighborhoods

Joanna Kahn

 
The Park City Police department received five calls involving moose last week. They all are related to the large animals wandering neighborhoods and causing a variety of safety issues for residents.

The wildlife calls came in over five days. One concerned resident in Park Meadows told dispatch that a moose was seen limping through the neighborhood streets foraging on trees.

Another Park Meadows resident on Quaking Aspen was concerned about a moose that had taken up residence for about a week in their front yard and was threatening their dogs.

A resident on Evening Star was concerned about a moose staggering in their driveway but according to the follow up, the animal was foraging and seemed able to get up and around.

Recently, a Pine Brook homeowner and her dogs were stunned by a moose bedded down in her driveway. When she walked from her home into her open garage, the moose felt threatened and lunged at her dog causing injury to the pet.

Another call from Park Meadows was from someone who noticed a moose leaning up against a garage door. The caller was worried that the homeowner would open their door without knowing it was there. Park City Police Captain Phil Kirk:

“We notify the homeowner if they’re not aware of it, that a moose is on their property or in their neighborhood and that they have to take necessary precautions. Many of the times though it’s the moose itself that was injured and that was certainly the case in some of these incidents that we have reported that resident observed what appeared to be an injured moose and they wanted us to provide some assistance through DWR.”

Kirk says the calls are important because wildlife can sometimes pose a safety concern to people, pets or the animals themselves.

“We take them seriously especially if they get close to you know the vicinity where there are lots of young kids who might not be aware of the dangers they present such as getting close to school. About two weeks ago we had a large moose that was close to the school drop off zone and we alerted the schools and we actually had the kids and the parents diverted to another location because of it. So, we take precautions with the animals. They’re large and you know they are wild animals and we don't want anyone hurt or them hurt.”

Another caller from the Prospector neighborhood said there was a young moose that looked unhealthy and disoriented and was wandering around Little Bessie and Monarch Drive.

Scott Root with Division of Wild life Resources gets calls about injured game and they’ll usually send a wildlife biologist to assess the animal.

“..right off a popular cross country and snowshoe trail and it's got an injured leg and people keep calling us about it but we don't rehabilitate big game animals and our biologist witnessed it able to get up and forage so that was kind of, okay, well it’s still getting around and it's not that uncommon to see big game animals that have injuries like that but we chose not to put it down in hopes that t could get by you know what I mean. So that may be the same type of situation in Park City as well.”

The police department welcomes all wildlife calls when people perceive a safety risk or observe an injured animal. 
 
  
 
 
 
 

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