Early visitors from the woods

Moose appear to be heading into cities earlier than normal

POST FALLS — Moose tend to be stepping from the woods and into civilization earlier than normal this year.

A mother and her calf wandered through the central part of Post Falls on Thursday, while Bullwinkle was reported several blocks away near the Lucky Pines trailer park.

"This is earlier than they normally come down," said Phil Cooper, Idaho Fish and Game wildlife conservation educator. "They're definitely searching for food — ornamental trees, shrubs, gardens and fruit trees."

Debbie Johnston, who lives on Bentley Place where the mother and calf hung out, took photos of the moose in her neighbor's yard.

"It's unbelievable to see them in your neighborhood," Johnston said while watching the visitors. "My son wishes he could be here to see them."

Johnson said she witnessed the mother hop her neighbor's 4-foot fence with ease.

Neighbor Bob Ohmstede said he knew to keep a distance.

"Moose can be dangerous when there's a baby," he said, adding that he also saw a moose munching on his rose bushes about three years ago.

Police temporarily closed off some streets near the Immaculate Conception school south of Interstate 90 as the moose wandered by so the animals would not become agitated by traffic and clusters of people. Post Falls Food Bank staff captured photos of the passersby.

Cooper said it's generally best for authorities to allow moose to leave town naturally rather than standing by or tranquilizing the animals.

"Typically they don't hang around all that long, especially this time of year," he said. "Most of the time, they'll be leaving anyway. Sometimes in the winter they'll stay quite a while and, if we feel they won't leave town, we'll have to tranquilize."

Tranquilizing is not easy, Cooper said.

"All kinds of things can go wrong," he said. "They could be overdosed if the weight is miscalculated. If the moose is not shot in the rump or front shoulder, it can cause mortality in the moose. If a dart misses, it can be dangerous if it's not found by us and a human later picks it up."

Cooper said it was likely a coincidence that the three moose were in town on the same day rather than them being together. They were about 10 blocks apart on Thursday morning.

"If he thought that she was coming into estrus, he would have been right there with her," Cooper said.

Cooper said while moose are coming down earlier than usual there hasn't been any indications that there will necessarily be more of them wandering our neighborhoods this winter.

Meanwhile, there are more bears down low this year due to scarcer food supplies such as berries in the mountains, Cooper said.

"Moose can make it in the winter — even in the deep snow — but they can get lazy at times and come down for the ornamental shrubs because they are easy to get to," Cooper said.