I have a question (Anchorage, Hope: fence, trailer, car)

[linicx]

Yeah, I know its dumb, but I don't know where else to ask.. A few years ago a tv show -- Northern Exposure --- I think was the name. The opening shot had a shaggy looking moose with a big rack walking through the town. My question is this: I'm pretty sure the moose was real. Was it wild or trained? The interesting part was that no one was excited pver the loose moose, and no one tried to shoot it.

Thanks!

[warptman]

That was my pet! I got royalties from that, I'm still getting paid for it!

[Rance]

Since the show was not filmed in Alaska...I have no idea if it was trained or not. But in reality we have moose wandering around most of the towns here. And no we don't get excited or shoot them. It's an everyday thing. In the winter they can get ornery from the deep snow and lack of food. So it's best to keep your distance. In the spring or summer the cows may have calves and you want to steer a wide path around them. A moose is very quick on it's feet and can stomp a human to death in a matter of seconds. But for the most part they are peaceful and just part of the settings.

[aurorawatcher]

I believe Warpt.

[The Grill God]

What did you name your moose Warpt????

[warptman]

Bullwinkle Jr of course!

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by linicx

Yeah, I know its dumb, but I don't know where else to ask.. A few years ago a tv show -- Northern Exposure --- I think was the name. The opening shot had a shaggy looking moose with a big rack walking through the town. My question is this: I'm pretty sure the moose was real. Was it wild or trained? The interesting part was that no one was excited pver the loose moose, and no one tried to shoot it.

Thanks!

The show was filmed in Washington State, the town of Roslyn.

I seem to recall that the moose belonged to some type of zoo there and they let it roam around town taking photos of it for the show.

I know moose can be trained, in the late 1800's they use to use them for pack animals here in Alaska. Later it became illegal to saddle break them because in the dark of winter in the mining towns when the rivers froze up, the "Bad Guys" would ride in on moose, rob the place of gold and take off and there was no other animal that could give chase in the deep snow.

In the Mid 1980's there was a moose at the Alaska Children's Zoo that needed an operation and my company rebuilt a generator for them to do the operation in a cargo van supplied by the Army. The operation was successful and the next night I took our four year old son to see the moose. It was laying down in the trailer and when the zoo caretaker came in the moose started to almost "Purr", he got in behind it and sat down, and the moose put it's head on his legs and he pet it as if it was his pet dog, my son got to pet it and was scared to boot with wide eyes, but thought it was really great.

Was a really neat moment, sadly the moose was feeling pretty good few days after the operation and jumped a low 5' fence and ripped it's stitches out and died shortly afterwords. But that was the first time I had seen a "Tame" moose, it had been raised in the zoo since it was orphaned by a car hitting it's mom.

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Rance

Since the show was not filmed in Alaska...I have no idea if it was trained or not. But in reality we have moose wandering around most of the towns here. And no we don't get excited or shoot them. It's an everyday thing. In the winter they can get ornery from the deep snow and lack of food. So it's best to keep your distance. In the spring or summer the cows may have calves and you want to steer a wide path around them. A moose is very quick on it's feet and can stomp a human to death in a matter of seconds. But for the most part they are peaceful and just part of the settings.

The real entertainment comes from watching all of the tourists go nuts when a moose goes strolling down 4th Ave in Downtown Anchorage!

[HighlandLady]

Originally Posted by starlite9

The show was filmed in Washington State, the town of Roslyn.

I seem to recall that the moose belonged to some type of zoo there and they let it roam around town taking photos of it for the show.

I know moose can be trained, in the late 1800's they use to use them for pack animals here in Alaska. Later it became illegal to saddle break them because in the dark of winter in the mining towns when the rivers froze up, the "Bad Guys" would ride in on moose, rob the place of gold and take off and there was no other animal that could give chase in the deep snow.

In the Mid 1980's there was a moose at the Alaska Children's Zoo that needed an operation and my company rebuilt a generator for them to do the operation in a cargo van supplied by the Army. The operation was successful and the next night I took our four year old son to see the moose. It was laying down in the trailer and when the zoo caretaker came in the moose started to almost "Purr", he got in behind it and sat down, and the moose put it's head on his legs and he pet it as if it was his pet dog, my son got to pet it and was scared to boot with wide eyes, but thought it was really great.

Was a really neat moment, sadly the moose was feeling pretty good few days after the operation and jumped a low 5' fence and ripped it's stitches out and died shortly afterwords. But that was the first time I had seen a "Tame" moose, it had been raised in the zoo since it was orphaned by a car hitting it's mom.

Oh, what a lovely story, Mark, though it didn't end well...
I cannot imagine riding a moose...I would think it would be an awkward and uncomfortable ride.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by Moose Whisperer

The real entertainment comes from watching all of the tourists go nuts when a moose goes strolling down 4th Ave in Downtown Anchorage!

The funniest one I ever saw was a yearling trying to hide behind a 4" birch or aspen, just outside Hope. It kept peeking around first one side, then the other, thinking if it couldn't see us, maybe we couldn't see it. Just like a toddler playing peekaboo! After nearly half an hour it finally gave up and dashed across the road. That was pretty funny too, all long legs going every which way and not at all coordinated. Or maybe it wasn't the truck it was hiding from, but the sound of us laughing at it.