Injured moose struggles in south Anchorage yard while neighbors look for help

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The moose sat in Brent Robb’s south Anchorage backyard in the snow breathing heavily.

“Poor guy,” Robb said while standing on the back deck of his duplex.

“He’s hurt ... I don’t think he really knows what to do about it, so finally found a place to lay down.”

Robb says he called the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, but no one has come to take a look at the moose.

Fish and Game officials said they did not have a report of an injured moose as of Friday and Robb says they haven’t called him back by Friday evening.

“In most cases, animals that are still able to stand up and move around are documented and given time to recover from whatever injury they may have- it could be as simple as a pulled muscle, or they may be conserving energy in the colder weather by not moving around as much,” Cyndi Wardlow with Fish and Game wrote in an email.

“In other instances, like where a leg is clearly broken or dislocated, we or the State Wildlife Troopers may need to euthanize the animal. Each situation is addressed on a case by case basis,”

Fish and Game says wild animals should be given plenty of space.

Robb says he’s worried dogs may hurt the moose, or the moose may hurt children in the neighborhood, so he’s been keeping an eye on it and he’d really like a biologist to check on the moose.

“[He’s] over here by the wood pile in the backyard,” Robb said. “He was back there eating some of the branches and leaves that were left over. We notice he has a broken leg and is limping really bad.”

In a follow-up interview Friday night, Robb said a group of dogs “came out and started barking, spooked him into standing up and he went right next door.”

He also says a bear has been hanging around.

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