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Moose runs wild in P.A. downtown

Jun 20, 2018 | 5:00 PM

Jaywalking is not unusual in Prince Albert’s downtown core, unless it’s a moose.

The out-of-sorts ungulate was spotted running among the traffic outside city hall and through the farmer’s market over the lunch hour Wednesday before it was tranquilized by conservation officers. Although the ultimate outcome was a sad one for the animal, it was a quite the spectacle for onlookers.

Arnold Brewster, who operates a stand at the market, said he could hardly believe what he was seeing just 15 feet away from him.

“Everybody was stunned; they just weren’t ready for it,” he told paNOW. “It’s not something you see every day.”

Brewster said it was a bit of a quiet day for business, so the whole episode livened things up.

“We had a moose in our yard a few weeks back where we live, but you don’t see this in P.A.,” he said.

After passing very close to him, Brewster said the young bull moose ran off past the market and towards the Forestry building on Central Ave., where he was convinced it was going to run through one of the big windows before it veered away at the last second.

Rick Galloway, who works as a Commissionaire at City Hall, said the animal passed within 5 feet of him in the park outside.

“It was running flat out, and a man was crossing the street and I figured he was going to get run over, but the moose just avoided him,” he said.

From there, he said the animal ran off down an alley where conservation officers caught up with it and fired a tranquilizer.

Markus Winterberger heard the commotion at the Forestry building but couldn’t see the marauding moose, so he headed to his nearby home to see if he could spot anything from the upper deck.

“I could hear something huffing and puffing and I looked over and here was this moose lying down on the street, ready to fall asleep,” he said. “It was bizarre. I’d heard of animals maybe making their way over the river into the city, but I wasn’t so sure. Now I see it’s possible.”

The incident may have captured the attention of the public, but ultimately it was a fatal outcome for the young moose.

Inspector Daryl Minter, with the conservation officer service, said the tranquilized animal died while officers were taking it outside the city to drop it off.

Despite the fact it took only 50 minutes to apprehend the creature, he said it wasn’t fast enough to save the animal. The young bull died from capture myopathy, which caused irreversible damage to the animal’s muscles, including its heart.

“The fatigue and the stress on the moose … it wasn’t mature enough to deal with the situation,” Minter said. “We were quite disappointed when we learned what happened.”

Minter commended the public’s actions during the incident and said calls to emergency services helped officers locate the animal quickly. In the event a wild animal enters the city, Minter encouraged people to stay away from the creature in question and report it immediately to 911.

 

–With files from Bryan Eneas and Taylor MacPherson.

Glenn.Hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertNOW