Of Moose and Men by Torry Martin & Doug Peterson

Author:Torry Martin & Doug Peterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736965279
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

13

OF MOOSE AND MEN

Early one morning, I had just trudged into the kitchen in search of coffee when I couldn’t help but notice a full-grown moose wandering only a few feet from our window. And I mean this moose was huge! Males can get as big as 800 pounds and eat more than 60 pounds of food a day—a pretty hefty amount for a plant eater. How many vegetarians do you know who put away 60 pounds of leafy greens every day? That’s a lot of trips to the salad bar.

I decided to help Mr. Moose in his pursuit of vegetation overload, so I tapped on the glass and slid our kitchen window open. After the Rudy the Reindeer incident, I had learned not to invite large mammals into my kitchen. I dangled a carrot in front of the moose’s nose, and he gobbled it down, kindly preserving my fingers in the process. That was fun, so I rummaged around in the refrigerator and brought out a second carrot, which he gobbled up in short order.

I had lived in Alaska long enough to know that moose are perhaps the most dangerous mammals in all of Alaska—responsible for more injuries than even bears. People generally assume that moose, being slow moving (except when they’re charging at you), are as lovably dense as Bullwinkle of cartoon fame. They don’t give the animal the respect it deserves.

For example, I heard about a cross-country skier who didn’t give a moose any respect—or distance. While skiing along a path near the University of Alaska, this fellow came upon a moose blocking his way, so he reached out with his ski pole and poked the moose from behind. The moose wheeled around and trampled him to death.

You may have heard the expression, “Don’t poke a bear.” Apparently, that applies to moose too.

In another case that made Alaska news, a moose stepped over a lady’s backyard fence in search of food. Although moose are massive, they have long, spindly legs, so this guy could easily step over her fence. The lady, realizing that her little dog was out in the backyard with an uninvited moose, rushed out to save her pet—and was trampled to death.

Rob and I had already learned firsthand how touchy a moose can get, especially a female protecting her young. On an entirely different morning at the cabin, I walked by the large picture window in our living room and thought, Is that a moose and her newborn calves?

I moved closer to the glass and peered out. Yes, that definitely was a female moose, and she had just given birth to twins! It made for a heartwarming scene. The calves were incredibly cute as they struggled to rise up on their wobbly legs. They looked around in wonderment and nuzzled their mother, who was probably saying to them, “It’s okay, this is the world. We own it.”

The mother moose was only about six feet from our cabin, between our burn barrel and the picture window.

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