Comments on: Beware Of Falling Moose

By: red_pill_junkie

red_pill_junkie — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:59:08 +0000

kolobe wrote:

One impala was reported to have run into a camp site and sit between hunters at the fire until the hunters chased the wild dogs away and it had recovered sufficiently to walk away (this incident was widely reported on).

OMG! Are you sure it wasn’t Ace Ventura in disguise??
Seriously, what a great story.

By: CryptoGoji

CryptoGoji — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:42:29 +0000

Its a new species of moose, Lemming Moose! Was an autopsy done on the moose to see if it was sick? Blind maybe, because thats a tall cliff, looks about twenty to thirty feet, maybe more.

By: kolobe

kolobe — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:40:04 +0000

Probably chased by a predator of some type, wolves or feral dogs most probably as they do not hunt from ambush but physically chase thier prey.

Often I get stories of buck particularly impala being chased by african wild dogs or feral dogs doing the strangest of things. One impala was reported to have run into a camp site and sit between hunters at the fire until the hunters chased the wild dogs away and it had recovered sufficiently to walk away (this incident was widely reported on). During its sitting (hiding) period it showed no fear for the hunters, fire or for the shots that were fired into the air to scare the wild dogs.

On our game farm we often pick up carcasses of impala that have run into fences and broken thier necks trying to escape mainly feral dogs and poachers with thier dogs, these are fences they know are there and know they cannot get through. Survival instinct maybe, inbred fear of pain, suicide to prevent a slow painful death by being devoured alive maybe, its difficult to say. With dogs, african wild dogs and feral dogs they usally tear apart or devour the prey alive and do not kill quickly, with woves the same can happen.

By: charlie23

charlie23 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:40:00 +0000

I’m not sure if two incidents over a span of 13 years could be indicative of an “ancient route”. More than likely there’s just good browsing at the top of the cliff and some topographic feature that makes a specific area more dangerous than others.
Now, if herds of them went over the cliffs on an annual basis…. (Lemmoose?)

By: Anakin0993

Anakin0993 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:22:14 +0000

That’s not something you see everyday…..

By: dogu4

dogu4 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:20:58 +0000

Great story.
I’m very familiar with that stretch of the Seward Highway and have hiked that Mc Hugh Creek and frequently driven past to admire the wildlife and scenery (including belugas, dall sheep, and the tidal bore). The simplest explanation is that it slipped and fell but it reminded me of story where Charles Sheldon the great naturalist, collector and writer, one hundred years ago this year, spent the entire winter on the north flanks of Denali. He details an day in his book “A winter in Denali” with an amazing story, where in the midst of a short cold day in mid-winter (due to the oblique angle of the sun’s descent in the high latitudes, dusk in that time of the year may come early but it lasts a surprisingly long time) he hiked into the rocky ridges that are exposed by the strong winter winds and where his main interest, the dall sheep, would gather to nibble on the plants there. On his return along a narrow path along a sheer rock wall, he was saw a lynx which had postioned itself into a rocky crevice where the sheep would have to pass by and waited, conserving its dwindling energy, as do all predators in winter. Eventaully a group of sheep led by a large ram approached and as it passed by the lynx pounced on the ram. Using its claws it clamped onto the head of the sheep between the massive curled horns and began to bite the face and eyes of the ram as it tried to dislodge the lynx by wildy thrashing its head. The ram, in obvious distress, stuggled but lost its footing and plunged to the rocks and snow some distance below with the lynx still in place, snarling. Shelton, later found the site and said the ram, its neck broken, had provided the lynx with a fine mid winter meal, and quite possibly the difference of life and death for the lynx and its kind.
Wolves, lynx and wolverines all inhabit that area I wouldn’t be surprised if one of their strategies had some role in the moose’s demise.

Oh…and Alaska has a couple of ways to distribute the game killed. With moose along the roadways, locals can sign up on a list and when it’s your turn you have to be ready to fully harvest the carcass in a responsible manner…cleanly with no waste and no gut piles near the road. If you miss your chance you go back to the bottom of the list. In Talkeetna they teach a little class where you can learn how to do it properly and even help send the wildlife biologists the stuff they need to better manage the population. It can be cold and hard nasty work, but hey, a thousand bucks worth of meat on the highway is the kinda windfall we should be willing to work hard for.

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:39:35 +0000

This thread is tinged with irony for me, since I’m almost done rereading my battered copy of THE BOOK OF THE DAMNED by Fort.

I wonder what he would make of this.

I can hear his sarcastic, inquisitive “voice” now…

“Fall? I think not!”

BTW, If one hasn’t read any of Fort’s book, one should.

By: red_pill_junkie

red_pill_junkie — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:40:25 +0000

I was also going to make a joke, but after seeing the photo, I’ll refrain because it would be tacky.

I just hope the poor animal died instantly.

By: kittenz

kittenz — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:39:29 +0000

I forgot to mention, although it probably goes without saying, in the incident I described, the deer died on impact.

By: kittenz

kittenz — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:35:53 +0000

Here in eastern Kentucky nearly all the highways are cut through mountains and so they are flanked by high, benched cliffs. The local term for them is “highwalls”.

Several years ago, a regular client showed up with her aging, ailing cocker spaniel, uncharacteristically two hours late for her appointment. The woman was very shaken as she described what had occurred to make her late:

A full grown deer had plunged off a 400 foot highwall and landed on the her car as she was coming into town! Luckily for her it landed on the hood. The impact shatterred her windshield too. Fortunately traffic was light and the bizarre incident did not cause a pileup on the highway; however, the woman’s car was totaled. She escaped with a few bruises and scratches and her dog in the backseat was unhurt.

Witnesses told police who investigated the accident that the deer was running full tilt and just leaped right off the highwall. The game warden later said that the deer was probably being chased by dogs.

Maybe something similar happened with these moose: maybe they were being hunted by wolves or harassed by dogs that chased them toward the cliff and they couldn’t stop or turn in time to avoid falling to their deaths. After all, that is one of the ways that people used to hunt ungulates.