Wayback With The Journal: Moose Hauled Up The Stairs Through Copper Center House To Safety

 THE COPPER RIVER COUNTRY JOURNAL 

When The Copper Valley Was Wild & Wooly 

WAYBACK ARCHIVES

December, 1993 

Scott and Sarah Strauss had almost more than they could handle last Sunday after church. Scott was outside, shoveling a path to his satellite dish to sweep off the snow, when he heard a noise in the outdoor stairwell next to the house. The stairwell hole – which is 4 by 8 by 8 feet deep – is unfinished because a stairway hasn't been built yet. Scott says it was covered with boards. But when he looked inside, "I saw a cow moose," he told the Journal. 

Not knowing what to do, he called his friend, former Fish & Wildlife officer Mike Roscovius – who was getting ready to go to church, and who suggested he call Fish & Game biologist Bob Tobey.

He then rounded up Gary Mullen and Craig Grams. The calf's mother and a twin were wandering in the woods near the house. And, although the captive moose looked "nervous" and "kept smacking its lips" Scott Strauss says, "It wasn't hurt." 

He said that Tobey didn't want to shoot the animal with a tranquilizer gun, except as a last resort. So the men went into the basement through the house, and decided to open the door outdoors into the stairwell. Tobey "was going to try to give it a shot through the door with a syringe," said Scott. "When we opened up the door, that calf, it just turned around, and lashed out with its hoof. We decided that was a bad idea; that one of us was going to get hurt down there." 

The biologist decided to shoot the moose with a tranquilizer dart, and the group started wondering how to winch the sedated animal up out of the hole – to build a tripod, or get a come-a-long." Finally, Scott had an idea.

"I suggested that we haul it out through the basement and up the stairs through the house. It was heavy, but it wasn't a full-grown moose, either. We waited for it to quiet down and for the tranquilizer to take effect, and then we all four went downstairs into the basement, and Bob took the tranquilizer dart out and made sure the moose was calm, and we picked it up and brought it into the basement, and assessed the situation of how we were going to get it up the stairs. 

Each one of us grabbed a part of the moose, like all 4 corners. We hauled it to the base of the stairs. We hauled it up the stairs, and right out the front door without incident. Bob gave it a counteractive to undo the tranquilizing effect. It took a couple of minutes.

The young moose hung around the driveway awhile after its experience — idly gnawing the plastic off of Craig Grams' car before wandering off into the woods.

So far, the animal seems none the worse for wear, according to Scott. "It's gone back with its mom and the other calf." Scott says he's glad it all came out okay. When they were considering how to remove the animal, there was brief talk of putting a burlap sack over its head and leading it through the house. But that didn't last long.

"He was wilder than a March hare," he said.