UAF student recalls fright at moose encounter

The 19-year-old University of Alaska Fairbanks student found himself playing ring around the spruce tree with an angry cow moose Tuesday morning on the UAF ski trails and ended up calling 911 for help. Three UAF police officers responded and shot the moose after it also acted aggressively toward them, as a shaken Broome watched from the safety of a police vehicle.

It was the first time that Broome, who is from Colorado and is in his first year at UAF, had seen a moose.

"It was sad, you know," Broome said as he walked the UAF ski trails on Thursday recalling the incident.

"The first moose I ever get to see, and I end up watching it get shot. I just came out to watch the aurora, and now a moose is dead."

Broome, on the other hand, feels fortunate to be alive. The moose, which unknown to him had a yearling calf with her, charged Broome twice and chased him twice around the spruce tree that provided protection. Broome was running around the spruce tree as he talked to police dispatchers.

"I yelled, 'I'm getting chased by a moose,' " Broome recalled. "I'd love to hear the 911 call."

THE CHASE

Broome, a sophomore majoring in geography, had been photographing the northern lights on Smith Lake about 1 a.m. Tuesday when he started walking back to campus on the ski trails through what is known as the Potato Field. He was nearing the top of the field when he saw the moose.

"I was just looking up at the sky, and I looked down in front of me and there was this moose standing there," he said. "It lines up on me, bows its head and starts growling and snorted and walking toward me. My heart dropped to my feet, and I thought I was going to be dead. I thought, 'This is it.' There's nothing more naturally frightening then when you're standing in the middle of the dark and you have a massive animal standing in front of you growling."

Broome's first reaction was to use the flash on his camera to scare off the moose, so he snapped a picture of it.

"The second the camera flashed the moose booked straight toward me," he said. "I just about peed my pants."

The moose backed off about 10 feet, and Broome recalled the advice his father had given him growing up in Colorado in case he ran into a bear: "Get loud and look big."

So Broome started yelling "Get out of here!" at the moose as he dialed 911. That didn't work either as the snorting moose turned around and came toward him again.

That's when Broome noticed a 20-foot white spruce tree about 10 feet behind him. He ran behind the tree with the moose chasing him.

"My first time around the tree I looked to my left and the moose was within touching distance," he said.

SHOOTING THE MOOSE

After they had gone around the tree twice, Broome said the moose moved off, and he was able to direct campus police to his location in the Potato Field. He remembers specifically asking police not to shoot the moose during the 911 call.

Broome was hiding behind the spruce tree when three UAF police officers arrived within minutes. He didn't know where the moose was. Broome yelled to police to let them know where he was. One of their SUVs pulled up about 20 feet away. The police opened the door and told Broome to get in.

Police then used spotlights to search for the moose and found it in the woods. UAF police chief Sean McGee said officers decided to shoot the moose after it started walking toward them while snorting. McGee OK'd the decision. The ski trails get lots of skiers, walkers, runners and cyclists, he said.

"My concern at the time was that with the manner in which this moose was acting is that it would have acted in a similar fashion if anyone else had been on the ski trails," the chief said.

Police contacted a local charity to salvage the moose.

A yearling calf that was with the cow ran off after the mother was shot, he said.

RARE INCIDENT

Investigator Steve Goetz said it was the first time he can remember from his 15-year tenure with the UAF police department that officers had to kill an aggressive moose.

"We've had nuisance moose before that wander near dorm areas and the core (campus) area, but we've been able to scare them off with lights and sirens," he said.

There have been a few times when officers have shot beanbag shells at moose to scare them, Goetz said.

Fairbanks area assistant biologist Tom Seaton said Broome did the right thing by taking refuge behind the spruce tree, given that he was in a wide-open space and the moose had charged him twice.

Seaton added that taking cover behind something is "a last resort."

The best thing to do if you confront an aggressive moose is to turn around and go the other way or take a wide berth around the moose, giving it plenty of space, Seaton said.

"They're not going to follow you," he said. "They just want you out of their space."