Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center officials received a call from Fish and Game that they had picked up a baby moose that was injured by dogs on Tuesday.
An AWCC official said the moose was separated from its mother after being chased around a neighborhood in Talkeetna.
The calf is less than a day old with a severe gash on its back. The founder of the AWCC, Mike Miller, said the center will care for the moose by cleaning the injury and stitching it back up. Miller said he is unsure of whether or not the calf will survive the night. “This moose will stay at the wildlife center if it lives and it’s unfortunate that man disturbed it. It should be out there living like a moose and not down at the wildlife center,” he said.
Wildlife experts strongly discourage people from picking up calves since the mother moose are highly protective and can cause fatal injuries when aggravated.
The moose are in the process of “flooding the area,” a time when most of the season’s calves are born on or after May 22nd. “It just floods the woods with so many calves that predators that naturally prey upon moose calves can’t get them all,” Miller said.
If the calf survives, it could be at the AWCC for as long as 12 years.
