Here's lookin' at you kid
A young female moose that had a penchant for the Amherst Public Schools was safely knocked out via tranquillizer dart late this morning along the access road that runs between the Amherst Regional High School and Middle School.
I'm so pretty, I'm so pretty ...
The Environmental Police used a single well place shot from a tranquilizer gun to knock her out peacefully. As in, she was not killed.
Amherst Welfare officer Carol Hepburn was on the scene the entire time, and while she has a tranquilizer gun she is only authorized to use it on domestic pets (mostly dogs) rather than wild critters such as a moose.
Wildlife District Manager loading up
Bus blockade
School officials immediately closed off the access road using a bus on the Middle School side and wooden barricades on the High School side.
Don't fence me in!
Fortunately the moose was in a fenced in wooded area most of the time. She was first spotted yesterday in the vicinity of Wildwood Elementary School.
School leaders on scene: Mark Jackson, Marisa Mendonsa, Mike Malone, Maria Geryk
Moose takes the fall
Bagged and tagged
Exactly when did Team Maria'a Minions become Police Officers?
ReplyDeleteWhy were they, and not the APD, blocking off roads and, apparently, being the local authorities in charge of the situation?
What exactly would they have done if -- OK -- a drunken, obnoxious UMass Student had come up with some bright idea like trying to ride the moose like a horse?
As I understand it, moose that wander into urbanized areas usually are suffering from some sort of parasitic brain worm, and moose are *really* not very bright to begin with. You have something that weighs almost as much as a car, and which is both more unpredictable and erratic than any drunk driver could ever be -- there is a great deal of potential danger in a situation like this, particularly if anyone or anything freaks the animal out.
When I say "not very bright", these are animals which not only often mistake motor vehicles for another moose, but somehow conclude that that they need to prevent the motor vehicles from stealing their girlfriends away from them...
I-95 crosses the Penobscot River near Millinocket, Maine -- it's about a mile of downgrade, a bridge across the river itself, an even steeper upgrade on the far side and then about 50 more miles until you cross into Canada. One morning, about dawn, Bullwinkle got the bright idea of attacking a trailer truck as it came off the bridge -- taking the right front wheel assembly clean off the vehicle.
Now this was a Canadian truck driver heading home with a load of lettuce, he had his wife and small children with him, and with the hill on the far side, I doubt he was doing less than 80 MPH as he went across the bridge. Without the wheel to keep it upright, the rig rolled over, and then tumbled -- there were no survivors.
My encounter with a Bull Moose occurred on what is probably the most remote stretch of road in the entire State of Maine -- Route 9 halfway between Bangor & Canada, where it essentially is a paved moraine with large swamps on both sides, and this was about 2AM in the midst of the pouring rain and flashing lightning of a severe thunderstorm.
Bullwinkle and his harem were blocking the road, guardrail to guardrail, and I did what most any young man would have done -- I leaned on the horn. This apparently was perceived as a sign of aggression -- he charged at me, I floored it in reverse and he then slopped on the wet pavement, falling with an incredibly loud thud. Apparently satisfied that he had driven off a competitor, he then got up, stepped over the guard rail, and walked down to the swamp on the far side -- his harem followed him, and I was glad to see them go...
My point: These are big, unpredictable animals -- this was a situation where the police should have been involved, not Team Maria, and if Team Maria's Minions weren't at least a couple hundred yards away from the animal (at a minimum!), the cops ought to have moved them. An officer at least has his Glock -- or are Maria's Minions now wearing sidearms too?
Larry, this was a far greater potential threat to public safety than the Barney Blowout of 2014....
Any word on the girl who had the run-in with a black bear? I understand her injuries were not terribly serious(?). Curious as to whether or not she surprised the animal or if it actually attacked her. Obviously an uptick in wildlife activity in the Republic.
ReplyDeleteNo, hard to get medical information. But I'm told it was not a serious injury. Must have scared the hell out her, however.
ReplyDelete