Memorial Day Weekend Likely To Bring More Human-Animal Encounters

May 23, 2012|By Dan Fiorucci | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — As the Memorial Day weekend approaches, wildlife biologists are warning people to be careful if they go hiking in the warm weather.

This is the week when moose give birth to their calves -- and if you run across a cuddly little moose calf, the mother is likely to be nearby.

Giving in to the urge to pet calves can quickly lead to trouble, like being charged by a cow moose weighing from 600 to 800 pounds.

In addition to humans being endangered, calves can be endangered too.

On Tuesday, in Talkeetna, pet dogs separated a moose calf from its mother and then attacked the calf. It ended up with severe bite marks on its back and on its side before Mike Miller, the operator of the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, rescued the animal.

Miller gave the calf seven stitches, then allowed it to rest. By Wednesday afternoon the animal was standing on all four legs and drinking formula from a bottle, although it was probably just 16 hours old when it was attacked.

Miller thinks it's amazing that the calf is recovering so well. He urges people to stay in control of their dogs, and says it might not be a bad idea to leash them if you're in an area where there's the risk of encountering a moose calf.

Meanwhile, there's some bad news for animal lovers as well.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game was forced to put down a 2-year-old wild bear after the animal had some uncomfortably close encounters with humans over the last few weeks.

Fish and Game wildlife biologist Jessy Coltrane decided it was safer to shoot the animal after it false-charged humans on at least two occasions.

Coltrane says it was unfortunate that the animal had become habituated to humans, but she blames human carelessness for the problem with the bear. She says someone left fish carcasses as well as a dog carcass near the popular Turnagain Arm Trailhead.

After the bear became used to human presence and began to display aggression, it had simply had to be destroyed before it hurt someone.

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