32 moose, for real...

http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/node/160533 


The woman in the linked story and video is both an idiot and very lucky she didn't get hurt. Petting or even approaching a moose is such a bad idea. They are often called "more dangerous than bears" here in Alaska. There are more run-ins and injuries every year by moose than any other animal (besides maybe dogs). Just last month 2 moms were hurt at bus stops by moose in the same day. One was here in Talkeetna and one was South of us in Willow. I just saw 5 moose this morning already getting Jax to the school bus and it's only 8:30 am, 4 were on our road and a little baby was resting under a tree (they like our neighborhood). It is getting light in the morning now, just last month it was still dark at 8 in the morning. I went for a quick walk on the bike path today thanks to the warm weather and extra light (which has some pavement showing through since they plow it, yay! We'll be riding bikes in no time). At the top of the little hill just past the lake near our road I was actually thinking about moose and how there is pretty good visibility on the bike path to watch out for them. That's when I glanced over into the trees and saw that baby under one of them. His mama was no where in sight, but she was probably just over the hill towards the creek resting too. Anyway that's when I turned back towards my car, like your supposed to. That's not when you walk up and try to pet or feed it. Duh! There are soo many moose around this year due to the record snowfall. Up in the high country, where they like to be, there is no relief from the deep snow and it's hard to walk, feed and keep little ones healthy. So they come down into the valley and enjoy our snowmachine and dogsledding trails as well as the roads, driveways and yards. Last week on our drive to Jaxon's doctor in Anchorage we counted 32 moose in one day. Yes 32, Jax helped me keep count. That is 200 miles of drive time. (Anchorage is 100 mi. South of us). 13 we had seen by Willow and another 13-15 were on the flats between Wasilla and Anchor town then just a few on the way home, but wow! That's a record for us in one day. We also saw 2 bald eagles and a dog team running, both pretty common sites up here. There are a couple big signs on the highway between us and "the city" that keeps track of how many 'reported' moose are killed on that road alone, it's currently at 455 for the year (Andy says they restart it at 0 in the spring or fall sometime). One reason we saw so many that day is because the state started a program to feed  moose in hopes of keeping them off the roads. The flats is a place they come to in the winter anyway so there are a couple feeding stations out there. That's where we basically saw a "herd" of moose, which is pretty unusual. At night they are really hard to see until your headlights catch them and then it's sometimes too late. Our local high school started a "Roadkill Class" last year. Only in Alaska right?! The students process the moose meat and donate it to the food bank as well as take some home to their families. True story, and they have had an abundance of meat this year. At www.adn.com  there is a bunch of moose photos posted. One woman had a yearling on her garage roof for most of a day. He climbed up the mountain of snow they had created while shoveling off the roof, it's pretty funny. The snow is causing roofs to collapse too. A church in Anchorage completly caved in earlier this month. It's a tough winter but the end is in site...