Editor's note: This story, based on information provided by the Anchorage Fire Department shortly after the attack, misreported several facts about the incident. The women were on foot, not on bicycles. They were near the coastal trail when the attack occurred, not on it. They believe they were attacked by one moose, not two. The women were with bicyclists on the coastal trail when first responders arrived, but they were by themselves when the attack occurred. The attack occurred near Kincaid Park on airport property, not near the Asplund Wastewater Treatment Facility. First responders staged from the treatment facility. We have posted a new story about the incident with a detailed account of what happened from the women and a paramedic firefighter.
Two women were attacked by two moose while bicycling on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail on Friday afternoon.
Anchorage Fire Chief Denis LeBlanc did not know the identities of the women but said they were both transported to Providence Alaska Medical Center, one with traumatic injuries and another with minor injuries. He said they are both Anchorage residents.
The attack happened south of Point Woronzof, LeBlanc said, near the Asplund Wastewater Treatment Facility. The women were with other bikers.
The Anchorage Fire Department got a call about the incident a little bit after 2 p.m. Friday.
"People were biking, and I think they came around the corner and saw a couple moose off to the side," LeBlanc said. "They weren't really threatening, but when they got abreast of them, the two moose attacked and injured two women."
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He said that airport police closed the trail in the area for about an hour. The Fire Department sent out ambulances, fire engines and a rescue truck, and had to remove a vehicle barricade in order to send a four-wheeler to transport the two women from the trail, one in the four-wheeler and one in a stretcher towed behind.
The animals ran off into the woods. Alaska Department of Fish and Game employees went looking for the moose, LeBlanc said, but didn't find them.
He didn't get a clear answer about whether one of the moose may have been a calf.