Officials with Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Tuesday tranquilized and removed a 750-pound moose from a parking garage in Vail, Colorado and transported the animal to a more friendly environment.
According to a press release, officials encountered the young bull moose on Tuesday morning in a parking garage near the Lionshead Village section of Vail.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it had received several calls about the loose moose in the last month and determined that the animal was becoming acclimated to city life.
“We were definitely within that human health and safety realm where there could potentially be an injury to a human or the animal. That is the reason we decided to move it,” CPW Officer Devin Duval said.
CPW officials noticed that the moose was frequenting the ground level of parking garages in recent days. They suspect the animal was attracted to the residual de-icing salt that remained on the walls of the garage.
After spotting the moose in the garage on Tuesday morning, CPW officers made the decision to tranquilize it. Once the moose was sedated, officials with CPW, the Vail police and fire departments and crews from Vail Public Works all helped to move the 750-pound animal out of the garage.
Later that day, officials transported the moose several hours away to the town of Craig and released it into a more friendly environment.
