Skip to content

Hungry moose dies

A moose, first observed along Highway 16 last Friday, April 5, 2013, died last night, April 10.
96947smithersMoose_PNH_01_Small
This moose made headlines following a visit to Safeway. Unfortunately

A moose, first observed along Highway 16 last Friday, April 5, 2013, died last night, SGT Kevin Nixon with the Conservation Officer Service in Smithers, said.

"We kind of knew that was going to happen walking in," Nixon said.

The bull moose, estimated to be two-years-old made headlines the morning of Thursday April 11, after it entered the Safeway store at the corner of Highway 16 and Queen St. in Smithers, B.C. in the early evening of Wednesday, April 10.

"We had been keeping track of the moose for about four days," Nixon said of the animal he described as in a weakened condition.

Nixon and other Conservation Officers were called to Safeway at about 6:30 p.m.

By then the moose had been lured outside of the store by a Safeway employee tempting it with an apple.

The conservation officers reluctantly sedated the animal which required two doses of tranquilizer, Nixon said.

At around 7:30 p.m. the sedated moose was taken to a nearby woodlot and released under the watchful eye of Conservation Officers.

Once released, the moose's breathing became shallow and the moose passed away about two hours later.

The process of drugging the animals and transporting them, Nixon said, is difficult on the animal and in this case the situation was exacerbated by the weakened condition of the moose.

"That's why we choose not to deal with these moose in town," Nixon said.

"But when they start walking into Safeway and acting aggressively we're sort of forced to deal with it."