Only in Alaska!

A trophy-sized bull moose was accidentally strung up in a power line, under construction to the Teck Pogo gold mine - 80 miles southeast of Fairbanks. Seems like the moose got its antlers tangled in electrical wire just as workers farther down the line pulled the line tight. The moose was suspended 50 feet in the air when workers recognized something was wrong and backtracked to find the Wired Moose.

The moose was alive when lowered to the ground, but was killed 2 hours later by Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials who were worried about the highly-stressed moose and its condition. The moose had an antler spread of 62 inches and weighed ~ 1,200 pounds - a trophy bull by Alaska's big game standards.

The meat was salvaged and donated to a local resident, but the antlers have gone missing, and Dave Davenport (an Alaska Department of Fish and Game technician) is in the process of tracking them down... after all, they're now state property!

Resident theory has it that the bull moose - in a rut-inspired testosterone-filled moment - decided to challenge the moving power line to a fight. Eventually it got tangled in static, half-inch cable that was being strung up next to the power lines to serve as a lightning rod.

State wildlife biologist Tom Seaton couldn't believe the pictures of the moose hanging 50 feet in the air. "That's one heck of a meat pole," he quipped. "No bear is going to get that moose!"

Informed sources in Fairbanks believe that this is only a cover up for the region's famous crimefighter, Super Moose. The Antlered Avenger was really flying along and got distracted by the scent of a female moose and didn't see the power lines. Word has it that Super Moose paid the workers to spread this fictitious tale so that his mistake would not be known... that it was only a Moosestake...

Post Note: Famed Biologist Specialist Dr. Bob Bradley notes that this is definitely a hoax, as per the following: (A) the body is that of a caribou while the antlers are moose antlers; and (B) the colour of the body is mantled grey, and not black as would be for that of a moose... guess this was only a Moosestake after all!

Post-Post Note (26-Oct-2004): "I thought you should know that it's true, except for two points - it was in Anchorage, AK, not Fairbanks, AK, and the antlers have not gone missing, to my knowledge. As a lifelong resident of Alaska, I have seen (and on several occasions, skiied or biked into) many moose. All of them were brown or grey. I have never seen a black moose (The moose in the picture is brown, by the way). Also, he [Dr. Bob Bradley] said that the body of the moose was a caribou's body. If you look closely, you'll find that the moose in the picture has a distinctive hump on its back, just behind the head. This is a distinctive characteristic of moose. You can confirm this information with a biology textbook and/or a search on Anchorage's newspaper web site, www.adn.com." Thanks to Eli Conway, Anchorage, Alaska. Guess this is a case of Moosetaken identity - it was a Well-Hung Moose after all!

Post-Post-Post Note (2-Feb-2005): "This is not a hoax - as it appeared in this months edition of Alaska Magazine (Feb 2005 issue, P14). This happened in Delta Jct, about 90 miles out east of Fairbanks. Golden Valley Electric confirmed that they were stringing a powerline for Pogo Goldmine by a private Contractor." Thanks to Bob & Hollie Carroll, Fairbanks, Alaska. Now we know - Moose be a good, high-strung story!