Wyoming
Young bull moose captured wandering Laramie, relocated by Game and Fish
LARAMIE, Wyo. — A bull moose was spotted roaming the streets of Laramie early Tuesday morning before being safely tranquilized and relocated by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Photos from the University of Wyoming Police Department and Laramie residents show the creature curiously wandering through the university campus, where he was tranquilized before heading to a strip mall along Grand Avenue and taking a nap.
“Biologists got the call this morning that the moose was wandering in the UW Apartments neighborhood,” Laramie Region Game and Fish Information and Education specialist Hannah Smith said. “They responded to the scene and were able to dart the moose.”
While he was darted near the apartments, he didn’t stand around and wait for the tranquilizer to take effect. Smith said he worked his way east for about 20 minutes before ending up, coincidentally, in front of Sportsman’s Warehouse.
Lilly Avila, a Laramie resident working at a nearby coffee shop, told Cap City News the animal was sluggishly wandering the parking lot and rubbing against cars before the tranquilizer got to him.
“They brought him to the office and got him cooled down,” Smith said. “They don’t want to be in town. It’s a stressful situation for them, too. They can overheat really easily, so we get them cooled down before we transport them.”
Game and Fish couldn’t say as of Tuesday where the moose came from. Smith said he could have come east from the Pole Mountain area between Laramie and Cheyenne or up the Laramie River from the Snowy Range. Either way, his new home will be around Medicine Bow Mountain.
He also shouldn’t be feeling the effects of the tranquilizer for too much longer. Biologists gave him a reversal drug that should have prepared him to return to the wild.
“He should be pretty normal in terms of the medication. I think, in terms of his day, hopefully he goes back to living his happy moose life munching on some willows and doesn’t go for too many more walkabouts,” Smith said.
