This loose moose was no comedy act.
A one-year-old moose captured the attention of Calgarians and snarled traffic in the process, as the young calf led officials on a two-hour wild moose chase throughout Calgary and across two city quadrants.
Eventually the moose was tranquilized by Fish and Wildlife officers after dashing down 9th Avenue SW downtown against traffic, according to officer Ken Mackay,
“It’s a safety issue for traffic and citizens, so we tranquilized it and we’ll be taking it west,” he said, adding the animal would be tagged and released.
There were reports the moose started in the northwest but led officials down Memorial Drive near the zoo and then crossed Bow River onto an island before wading through more water to explore downtown.
“It’s never a good thing to have a moose loose downtown. Not a good place to be,” Mackay said.
Duty Insp. Darren Cave said the moose created a lot of chaos for motorists.
“He was kind of like a tourist, he’s seen a lot of the city today,” Cave said.
Witnesses, many of whom had never seen a moose downtown before, were awestruck when crossing paths with the large animal along the river,.
“It just kind of looked a bit frazzled but it’s not something you see everyday,” Joe Weinstein said.
