They had spent enough time hanging around the Rattlesnake Recreation area and thought a trip downtown might be a good idea, but for this mother moose and her calf, it proved to be just too much human contact.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Education and Program manager Vivaca Crowser described what happened late Friday morning.

“We learned that the moose had made their way downtown into the Pine Street area, not far from the downtown post office,” said Crowser. “Right away we had some personnel respond just to monitor the situation. Fortunately, we had great cooperation from the Missoula Police Department, Fish, Wildlife and Parks and some others that came together to block off some areas and monitor the moose until about 11:00 a.m. when we were able to dart the cow and the calf, and they were both tranquilized to the point where we could get them into a trailer, and get them out of town to an area that will feel a lot more like home to them.”

Crowser said wild animals in an urban setting are always unpredictable.

“All things considered, it all went pretty smoothly,” she said. “It’s always tricky when you have wild animals in town, and there were two, a mother and her calf. We were able to successfully transport them and they were released this afternoon.”

Crowser hailed the cooperation of all the agencies involved to safely move the moose out of town.

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