The Alaska Department of Fish and Game pulled a moose calf out of a sewage culvert on Tuesday after it broke through an unstable cover and got stuck. The calf was retrieved from the sewage water and trotted away fine, baring only a few scratches.<\/p>\n
Renee and Bob Sugden\u2019s dogs alerted them to the moose in their backyard around 7 a.m. The trapped moose was whining and struggling to escape while its mother and another calf stood nearby. The 3-foot wide, 10-foot deep culvert outside their home was previously covered by a deteriorating plywood sheet, Bob Sugden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was heartsick because I truly thought that the moose was going to have to be put down,\u201d Sugden said. His home beside Two Rivers Community Church of Nazarene, where he serves as pastor, feeds into the church\u2019s septic system.<\/p>\n
Sugden called the Alaska State Troopers who directed them to ADF&G.<\/p>\n
Regional Biologist Sara Longson arrived at the scene around 9 a.m. with two colleagues. They brought with them a couple two-by-fours, a rope, a noose pole and a net.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe approached and I could see the moose\u2019s eyes and the whole head sticking out of the water,\u201d Longson said. \u201cI knew we wanted to get it out of there quickly before it got any more stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Fish and Game got there the other moose had left the scene. Two technicians set about reducing the stuck moose while one monitored the area watching for the other\u2019s return.<\/p>\n
Using the noose pole to hold the calf\u2019s head above the water, the technicians lifted the calf first with the rope under its armpits then pulled it fully out with the net. Arms deep in the sewage culvert, it got messy fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely the less glamorous part of our job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The moose was determined to be largely unharmed, incurring a few scratches on its legs and rump. It rested for 10 minutes outside the culvert before walking into the trees surrounding the home.<\/p>\n
ADF&G hasn\u2019t received any further reports of the calf.<\/p>\n
The whole ordeal could\u2019ve been avoided if the culvert was properly covered, Longson said. The incident is a unique example of why homeowners should check their property for things that may be hazardous to moose.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are definitely replacing that and we\u2019re going to be putting in a much stouter covering so that hopefully we\u2019ll never deal with this again,\u201d Sugden said.<\/p>\n
Gardens or chicken fences and egress windows are common culprits that catch on antlers, but this scenario was unlike anything Longson has seen in her 10 years with ADF&G.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ranks top of weird, unusual calls as far as my time with Fish and Game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Contact Anna Lionas at 907-459-7545.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Alaska Department of Fish and Game pulled a moose calf out of a sewage culvert on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[58480,79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-119390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-local_news","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}