The phone has been hot at the wildlife patrol in Trondheim for the past two days. An aggressive moose has been observed in the district of Brundalen, which has caused fear among neighbours: – People have called and been terrified of it. Many have not dared to let the children go out to play, says Jon Torbjørn Kviseth in the wildlife patrol. In this pavilion Kviseth tried to hide. Photo: Bertil Lærnes Found the moose in a nursing home The moose has been observed for over a week, including at the prison in the district. On Thursday, Kviseth received a phone call from a lady who had encountered the moose at an underpass in the area. Kviseth went out to find the moose, without success. On Friday, the moose had been observed in the back garden of a nursing home. The wildlife patrol traveled there and found it close to a pavilion in the garden. Kviseth approached the moose to assess its behaviour. – Then it got up and was going to take me. He played cat and mouse with me for twenty minutes, says Kviseth about the serious incident. Kviseth says he was protected to some extent by benches inside the pavilion, while the moose chased him. – He kicked with his front feet and at the closest he was only half a meter from me. I cooed at it and kicked it back. It was no fun, he says. Kviseth says the experience was scary. Photo: Bertil Lærnes Colleague killed the moose He himself had chosen not to bring a weapon, but had it locked in the car. He therefore called a colleague in the wildlife patrol who came with a weapon and hunted down the animal. Kviseth says it is difficult to assess why the moose behaved the way it did. A “normal” moose would have run away when Kviseth approached it, rather than attack, he says. The wildlife patrol has clear advice for people who experience moose in their neighbourhood. Keep your distance, at least a hundred meters. Call the police to notify. – Don’t approach them, then what happened to me could happen, he says. A colleague from the game patrol came to the scene and shot the moose. Photo: Bertil Lærnes Researcher: can be stressful Inger Maren Rivrud is a wildlife researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (NINA). She says moose like to seek out new areas when they are looking for food. A lot of snow in the forest can also push them into areas they don’t normally travel in. Young moose tend to be more exploratory than the older ones. – They can get lost in areas and have problems finding their way out. Then they can become stressed, says Rivrud. She adds that she is not aware of the specific case at Brundalen in Trondheim. Wildlife researcher Inger Rivrud says moose can become stressed if they do not have an escape route. Photo: NINA That the moose has been perceived as aggressive by neighbours, and that it kicked at Kviseth, says the wildlife researcher, may be due to the fact that it felt stressed. – It is not normal behavior for moose that the first choice is to attack. If it doesn’t have a natural escape route, it will feel like a last resort, she says.
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Aggressive moose on Brundalen chased an employee of the Wildlife Patrol – news Trøndelag
