Chased 75 feet into the woods near the Denali National Park visitor center by an angry moose last week, Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Sirvid of Anchorage feared he, his friends and two small children were on the verge of getting stomped.
So, with the moose thundering behind, he stopped, drew a handgun he was carrying as protection against bears, and turned to face the moose, shooting her in the head at a distance he estimated to be 5 or 10 feet.
On Wednesday afternoon, flanked by Air Force public affairs officials, Sirvid shared his story at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
Sirvid, a 26-year-old native of Orland Park, Ill., shot the moose on June 6 while he and some friends were hiking on the Triple Lakes Trail. It is the second time that an animal has been shot by a park visitor since Congress lifted a firearms ban in national parks in 2010. The incident, which may have involved a mother moose with now-orphaned calves, has stirred up public discussion about the 3-year-old law.
Sirvid has been stationed at JBER since Jan. 16. He's seen lots of moose during his time here, he said, and has never had any problems with them charging before. Sirvid was visiting Denali, a jewel in the U.S. national parks system, for the first time, with his friend, Mark Diorio and family, who were visiting from Illinois.
Sirvid said he'd never carried a firearm while hiking before. His neighbor, whom he called a "long-time Alaskan," offered Sirvid the .41 caliber, advising him that it would be a good idea for protection against bears. Sirvid had checked with park officials to make sure that carrying a firearm was legal in the park, and knew it was illegal to discharge a firearm. But during the incident, he wasn't thinking about that, he said.
The day's hike was wrapping up, Sirvid said, when he spotted a moose about 75 feet away. Sirvid, Diorio and his wife Becky were in front, with kids Anthony, 5, and Bella, 7, behind them in the woods. Diorio pulled out his camera to snap some photos when the moose glanced up.
They froze. "Mark, we've got to find another way around," Sirvid said.
The moose started moving toward them. "I said Mark -- head for the trees. If you get struck play dead."
The animal started coming toward them, faster now, her head down near the shoulders. "It didn't drop its ears, didn't stop, just started coming right at us," he said.
They started to run back into the woods. Sirvid glanced back again, and the moose was still closing in on them. "I looked back at Mark, and he just had a terrified look on his face.
"I was praying this moose had a false start and was going to stop."
Sirvid turned to face the moose and readied his firearm. "By the time I decided to do something, it looked like an elephant," a huge, looming creature behind him. He shot her when she was about 5 to 10 feet away. With a single shot to the head, the moose fell to the ground.
He's not sure how long the incident lasted -- all sense of time was lost, he claimed, and everything went silent. The kids were crying after the incident, but everyone was alive.
"I did not want to shoot this moose," he said. "It was the hardest thing for me to do."
Sirvid went to the visitors center to tell the park what had happened. Park spokesperson Kris Fister described Sirvid as "distraught," still clutching the handgun when he arrived. The center was closed at the time, but an employee was still inside, and called park rangers for help.
Rangers arrived about 15 minutes later and shot the fatally-injured animal. Alaska State Troopers assisted with disposal of the carcass, as they normally do when moose are hit and killed by cars. Troopers contacted a local who salvaged the moose meat.
Sirvid told the Park Service that he shot the moose out of fear for the children's safety. Had he not been armed, he probably would have still stood in the way of the moose's charge and the children, he said.
He knows some people disagree with his actions, but "I don't think that anybody would have done anything differently."
Sirvid works in the pest management unit on JBER. He's used to dealing with animals -- while stationed in South Dakota he removed rattlesnakes from parts of the base by putting them in a metal bin and releasing them elsewhere.
"I strongly believe in the humane treatment of animals," he said.
Following the incident, the National Park Service opened an investigation and interviewed all witnesses present to determine whether or not Sirvid discharged his weapon lawfully.
Carrying a firearm, whether a rifle, shotgun or handgun, in a national park was illegal until 2010, when a new federal law was passed allowing people to legally possess firearms in the park. Months later, in May 2010, a backpacker shot and killed a brown bear with nine shots from a .45-caliber pistol within the park boundaries.
Discharging a weapon in a national park is still illegal, however, unless the situation falls under the "Defense of Life and Property" (DLP) section of Alaska statute. The National Park Service doesn't have any laws in place that assess such scenarios, Fister said.
"It was determined that the shooting was justified," under DLP, Fister said, adding that Sirvid's case does not set a precedent for other animal shootings in national parks, should more occur, she said. "We certainly will treat each case individually."
As for national parks in other states, each will have abide by their own applicable state laws.
Investigation closed, but question of calves remains
On Tuesday, the National Park Service released Sirvid's name and details about the investigation.
"There was no justifiable reason not to release it," Fister said, after declining to name Sirvid the day before.
Reports of two orphaned calves keep trickling in to park authorities, but as of Wednesday afternoon, the Park Service still hadn't located them. Sirvid never saw any calves during the incident, he said.
Park biologist Pat Owen said Tuesday that the moose was lactating, and that the calves spotted lingering around the site of the shooting most likely belonged to the downed animal.
The park is asking that people coming in contact with any orphaned calves to call the visitor center right away, as the park is hoping to get them out of the area. "Just having them in the vicinity of the visitor center is a concern for us," Owen said on Tuesda. Moose calves without their mother are extremely vulnerable and make easy prey.
"The last thing I want to see is a bear kill outside of the visitor center," Owen said.
"If we can locate them again, we're starting the wheels turning to get them placed in a facility." The park has made an agreement with the Alaska Moose Federation, which has agreed to rear the calves if they are located.
Another cow with calves is in the area now, Fister said, a common occurrence for the wooded area that is preferred habitat for moose. The park has not closed off any trails or put up any warning signs for visitors.
Nearly a week has passed since Sirvid shot the moose, but "the disbelief is still here," Sirvid said. He's just glad they "all made it out alive after something that could have gone terribly wrong."
Contact Laurel Andrews at laurel(at)alaskadispatch.com