Three men rescue moose from avalanche

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - There's an extra moose alive in southcentral Alaska thanks to three snowmobilers who freed it from an avalanche.

Marty Mobley, Rob Uphus and Avery Vucinich, residents of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, on Sunday went riding on the west side of Hatcher Pass about 55 miles northeast of Anchorage. With Alaska's unseasonably warm weather, they were wary of avalanches, Mobley said.

The came upon a hillside that had both moose tracks and ski tracks. The latter stood out because they don't see many skiers in the area.

About an hour later, they returned and saw that an avalanche had come down, wiping out the tracks. The three friends were concerned that a skier might have been trapped but also knew more snow might fall.

"We had about 2,500 feet of mountain above us still," Mobley said. "Half slid, half didn't, so we didn't want to screw around a bunch there."

Mobley spotted something brown moving in the hard-packed snow of the debris field.

The men grabbed shovels. Two men dug while the other looked for signs of another avalanche. When the animal's head was cleared, Vucinich took a picture. The moose didn't struggle and appeared calmer as they cleared snow.

"It didn't even fight us," Mobley said. "It was like, 'Help me. Help me.' It was totally docile and let us touch it. It just (lay) there," Mobley said.

After about 10 minutes, Mobley said, three-quarters of the animal was free. The men were not sure if the moose was injured, but after standing and looking at its rescuers, it shook off snow and ran down the mountain.