Suicidal moose descends on Alaska

'Moose can fly. Just not very well'

By Cade Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 14th February 2008 11:02 GMT

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You might say it was raining cats and moose. Minus the cats.

On February 2, as reported by Anchorage Daily News, a swing-shift state trooper named Howard Peterson was motoring down the Seward Highway when he was nearly killed by a falling moose.

At first, he thought the moose was a rock that looked like a moose. But the moose didn't bounce, and he realized it was indeed a moose. A dead moose. The moose had fallen 150 feet or more, which is a long way for a moose to fall.

Then the moose-spotter snapped some photos of the moose he spotted. And he called for some moose clean-up.

After this moose-related call, the moose-spotter wondered if the moose had jumped. "How would you say it? Moose-icide? He probably thought he was the only moose, with all those sheep around," the moose-spotter said.

Then the moose-spotter changed his mind about the moose. Some moose-spooking wind must have spooked the moose, the moose-spotter said. Or maybe the moose misstepped.

Speaking to the moose-happy Daily News, a moose expert confirmed that moose don't do moose-icide. "I'm sure the moose didn't jump," the moose expert said. "[Moose] occasionally have bad days like the rest of us. [Moose] slip and fall. Maybe [the moose] was reaching for a branch and the snow just gave way."

Nonetheless, the moose-spotter marveled at the moose he spotted. "[Moose] can fly and [moose] can land," he said. "Just not very well."

Meanwhile, The Reg now knows what it feels like to be trapped in the credits of a Monty Python movie. ®