Pogo Moose Incident - Fairbanks , Alaska
"They were laying new power cables which were strung on the ground for miles. The moose are rutting right now and very agitated. He was thrashing around and got his antlers stuck in the cables. When the men (miles away) began pulling the lines up with their big equipment, the moose went up with them. They noticed excess tension in the lines and went searching for the problem. He was still alive when they lowered him to the ground. He was a huge 60 inch bull and slightly peeved!"


link in case image doesn't load.

source

How sad.

Yes it is. I don't understand why they couldn't have tranquilized it. They couldn't or didn't want to be bothered? They couldn't or they wanted the meat and antlers?

They were in Alaska. Sorry, but not everyone carries a tranq gun with them when they go out to string wire. Should they have let the animal hang there for an additional few hours whilst someone ran to town to get one? They didn't realize the animal was stuck when the started raising the line, and it's not exactly a good practice to try to shoo a huge angry animal around. They figured he'd hightail it out of there when the line started going up, the moose clearly didn't do what they expected.

I saw this back when it first happened (worked at a G&F), complete with the report from the game warden that responded. They lowered the animal as soon as the problem was discovered, and he survived just fine.

If they didn't have one, than I can understand. That is logical. However, the snopes article said they felt it was too dangerous to tranquilize them, not that they didn't have a way to tranquilize him.

Your story sounds more plausible

That picture is hilarious. I am still laughing at it!

I agree with Maven here too - I'd think it's more likely that they didn't have tranquilizers with them. I don't think anyone except CO's carry tranq guns. I'd like to pack one christmas shopping, though.

I must say I'm sceptic (skeptic?). I'm surprised that the antlers are attched well enough to support the weight of a full-grown moose. Aren't antlers shed every year? (Unlike antelope horns which are permanently attached to the skull.)
Pardon my ignorance - this is one of many subjects that I know very little about.

It is a real picture. Antlers are shed every year, but until winter/spring, they are very firmly attached to the animal. Remember--the point of those points is tofight, so something that won't take several good wallops and support the weight of the animal is useless against a similarly sized opponent. Successful reproduction depends on it!

Thanks for that! Plime is sooo educational!

Probably after lowering him, they found his antlers were extremely entangled and could not get close enough to untangle him without getting a severe moose-ass kicking...That would be the "Too dangerous" part.
What maven and tundra said...no one carries tranquilizers...everyone carries guns.
I would think that linemen in Alaska get giant $$$'s and "The show must go on"...and I am sure some yummy Moose steaks and roasts were shared amongst many.

Cool find 2many.

Oh my goodness! That poor thing. I might not have believed it. A few years ago, we were slated to move to Alaska--didn't happen--and we got literature on what NOT to do around moose, as they roamed around the neighborhoods. Oh yes, and wolves too.

As Maven pointed out, while the antlers do shed annually, they are 'glued on' quite firmly.

So firmly, in fact, that sometimes males in the rut will fight and get their antlers so tangled together they get stuck to each other. This is bad news for the mooses, as they will eventually starve/become easy wolf prey. Rarely, their skeletons can be found with the antlers still tangled together ( I think I read about this happening not too long ago on Cape Breton or Newfoundland; somewhere where there were no large scavenger animals).

Poor moose.

i wonder if moose tastes like chicken?...or maybe a meat product of some sort?.....why the hell am i thinking about that?........i bet it just tastes like moose.

Moose tastes like deer meat, a bit more wild. My dad used to hunt moose every year when I was younger so that's what we had for meat in winter months.

Oh, I disagree! Moose doesn't taste nearly as gamey as deer. It's very similar to beef, but a lower fat.

The Game and Fish did a Wild Game feed every year, and everyone would bring in different food items made of wild game. Awesome chance to try a variety of things.

Maybe moose tastes different in different parts of the world? The moose I've eaten have been Finnish, and the only deer meat I've had has been in Canada.

Granted, it's been 20 years since I ate moose.

Moose tastes like a gamey beef.
My teacher in 5th grade brought some in.
It was like 6-7 years ago though...

I've noticed the "gameyness" of the meat depends on its diet. Where I live, the deer are fed on cornfields, so they don't taste nearly so gamey as deer raised on other foods. I imagine it is the same with Moose.