As you may have heard, few things in life are certain. Death, yes. Taxes, sure. In my life, there’s at least one more: I freakin’ love seeing a moose. In the wild, of course. Yet…even more so, I love seeing them when I’m out doing errands.
Seriously, nothing gives boring old errands a boost in quite the same way that seeing a moose strolling across the street does.
People who don’t live here may think Alaskans get tired of moose sightings. Most do not. (I am tempted to say “nobody gets tired of moose sightings” but then somebody will pipe up and be all moose are boring! and I’ll have to feel sad for that person and question their existence and I don’t have time for that.) Anyway, moose sighting photos are, quite possibly, my favorite reason to stay on social media. Nothing beats a photo of a moose strolling across a street at a crosswalk or holding up traffic as it saunters down the road. (OK, fine, moose photos are my second favorite: showing off photos of my dog holds strong at number one.)
(Oh, can everybody start using #MOOSETWITTER when you post your sightings? #MooseTwitter needs to be much more of a thing!)
Anyway, I also love seeing moose in the wild, but only when I’m a fair distance away, and, most importantly, not in between a moose cow and her calf. You do not want to be in the middle of that pairing.
So I understand when people come here and wander a trail and see a moose and want a photo. Big time.
Yesterday while walking the trails in Kincaid Park, I saw a line of 12 or so people taking photos of, well, I knew it was something.
“Must be a moose,” said one of my friends.
“Well, it’s some kind of large animal,” said a guy standing a bit away from the group of wildlife paparazzi.
It was, of course, a moose. A moose that was, maybe, MAYBE, 10 feet away from the people crowding the trail to snap a photo of it.
PEOPLE! DO NOT DO THAT.
Please.
Don’t crowd the wildlife. Yes, seeing a moose is exciting. But wild animals need space. A lot of space.
(And don’t, like the woman I saw on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail some years back, try to quietly sidestep up to a moose to pet it. I was so sure that woman was going to experience a bit of the old stomp stomp stomp moose dance on her head, a surefire way to kill vacation joy. Luckily, her companion convinced her to stop being an idiot and she backed away.)
I am not all that well known for having a filter when it comes to what I say when I feel somebody or, some moose is being wronged. My megaphone mouth kicked into full gear as my friends and I scooted past the group.
“You’re standing too close!”
I think I shocked the group. I kind of loved it. OK, not kind of—I loved it.
Don’t make me grumble at you.
OK? Thanks.
News from around Alaska
From Alaska Public Media: Groundbreaking ceremony held for new Tlingit longhouse in Haines
From KUCB and ProPublica: Commercial aviation is essential, but Alaska’s share of deadly crashes is growing
From the Anchorage Daily News: One week from a government shutdown, some Alaska agencies are preparing for the worst (Live Outside Alaska? Consider this a swan dive into AK’s political scene. Holy hell.)