Colorado Parks and Wildlife Rescue Moose From Basement

Two moose were recently rescued by Colorado Parks and Wildlife after a calf fell into a basement in Grand Lake, Colorado on August 19th, 2021.

The animals, a cow moose, and her calf found themselves in what used to be a basement at the Aspen Pine Estates; a residential area in Grand Lake that was burned by the East Troublesome Fire. The hole in the ground that used to be the basement was only about four feet deep, but nonetheless, the small calf moose couldn't get out.

Neighbors tried to build a ramp for the young moose to walk on to get out of the hole but the incline was too steep. Whilst doing this, the cow moose stood nearby and luckily, wasn't aggressive.

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The neighbors then called Colorado Parks and Wildlife who arrived on the scene to find the cow and calf moose touching muzzles sporadically followed by the cow moose walking away about 40 yards while CPW worked on rescuing her calf.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife were successfully able to rescue the calf but were forced to tranquilize both moose and eventually relocate them to Craig, Colorado, which is an area in the state that CPW is working to introduce more moose.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife manager Jeromy Huntington had this to say about the situation:

It’s a good reminder that folks need to fence off foundations and cover their window wells because animals can get trapped and die. We didn’t want to take the risk that this moose might get trapped again if we released it near the burn area. So this relocation actually was a win-win for these moose and the CPW project.

[Ski-Hi News]