North Pole, Alaska

From KTVA of May 31, 2007

Man shoots threatening moose

Alaska wildlife state troopers say a North Pole musher will NOT be cited for shooting a moose that threatened to charge him. The cow was defending a calf from a sled dog that had pulled loose from a chain in the yard of musher Jonah Lilley. Wildlife Trooper Dennis Roe says Lilley shot the moose in the head Monday with a .22-caliber rifle from about 20 feet away.

Roe says the cow and calf -- which was probably was less than a week old -- walked into Lilley's dog lot and "riled the dogs up." He says one of Lilley's bigger huskies pulled its anchor out and ran to the moose. Lilley went into his house for the gun, came back out and fired it into the air to scare the moose. Roe says the cow turned away from the dog toward Lilley, and when it moved toward him, he shot it.

Roe says the loose dog grabbed the calf by its hind end and seriously injured it. Roe says that when he arrived, the calf was alive but could not stand up, so he shot it. He says the shooting of the cow appeared to be justified. The cow moose was salvaged by a charity. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game took the calf carcass for research. Wildlife officials say cow moose aggressively protect their young and neither calves nor cows should be approached, especially at this time of year.