Search for moose brings Fish and Wildlife to Glennaire Drive | Environment

A possibly injured moose limped its way into the hills behind Glennaire Drive neighborhoods Tuesday morning. The incident was originally called into the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office by office staff at Moran Prairie Elementary who noticed it hanging around their school’s parking lot. The school’s principal, Dr. Mark Gorman, made sure no children were outside at the time.

Office staff watched as the moose, a young adult, adventured across the parking lot and into the playground. From there it crossed into the field at 57th and Glenrose Rd. crossing the street into the residential roads of the Glennaire neighborhood.

Sheriff’s Deputies and Fish and Wildlife officers unpacked their hazing gear from their vehicles at Glennaire Dr. and Williamette St. The moose was seen heading into the forested area just beyond the road. They marched through the tall grass hoping to find it. Just beyond the tree line, it was briefly seen darting into heavier patches of woods. Officers decided it was best to leave it be.

“We’re just going to monitor it for now,” Sgt. Dan Rahn, fish and wildlife, said. “Hopefully it will stay out of the neighborhood area and stay in the wooded area. With it being down by the elementary school and near the neighborhoods, we want to haze it out of the area. Normally we do that with paint balls - that’s usually fairly effective.”

Tranquilizing a moose for relocation is only a last resort for fish and wildlife. Rahn says sometimes the moose don’t deal with it very well - and it's even worse during the harsh winter months of January and February.

“When you tranquilize, the moose is released and a lot of times, they get stressed out or they aspirate, vomit and it gets stuck in their lungs. They die of infection a few days later,” Rahn explained. He continued, “This winter hasn’t been too hard on them. Last year we had that record snow in November - the ground was covered for several months.”

When moose are tranquilized, fish and wildlife primarily snaps on ear tags to keep track of them in case they show up in a neighborhood again.

“Most of the time they don’t. We take them up in the mountains way out of the way to release them,” Rahn explained. Most of the time they’re dropped off at Mt. Spokane depending on the roads and snow.

Fish and Wildlife Officer Curt Wood was able to catch a glimpse of the moose before it disappeared.

“Hopefully it will be fine as far as the leg goes. It didn’t look to severely injured. Give it some time and see how it goes,” Wood said.