Skate parks are built for steep walls and smooth curves. Those are exactly the features that turned Red Lodge’s Hellroaring Skate Park into a trap for a full-grown bull moose last Wednesday.
The moose dropped into the park’s deep bowl at around 10 a.m. on October 7 and could not climb back out. Even with its antlers raised, it could not reach the lip. More than four hours later, after gentler attempts failed, wildlife officers tranquilised it and hauled it out by hand.
How the rescue unfolded
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks worked alongside the Red Lodge Police Department and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office. Rescuers first tried to coax the animal up and out on its own, rattling ratchet straps to encourage it to move and laying down a large cushion mat to give its hooves something to grip.
When that did not work, they sedated the moose shortly after 2 p.m., fitted it with a harness, and about a dozen people pulled it up the side of the bowl and lifted it into a trailer. It was reported to be uninjured, and officers planned to revive it and release it outside town.
Residents gathered to watch. “It’s been an exciting day in Red Lodge,” one said. Another summed up the problem neatly: “That’s a deep hole there in the skate park.”
Why moose wander into towns in autumn
October is the heart of the moose breeding season, the rut, when bulls travel widely and are less cautious than usual. Red Lodge sits at the foot of the Beartooth Mountains, surrounded by moose habitat, so animals passing through town are not unusual. Falling into a skate bowl is.
Concrete bowls are a particular hazard because their curved walls are designed to keep momentum going, not to offer footholds. A moose can weigh well over 1,000 pounds, and once it slides to the bottom it has nothing to push against. Similar rescues have happened in Colorado, where wildlife officers have had to free moose from skate parks before.
If you meet one
Moose look placid but injure more people in some parts of North America than bears do, usually when they feel cornered. If you see one in town, keep well back, keep dogs on a lead, and call your state wildlife agency rather than trying to help. In Red Lodge, that is exactly what residents did, and it ended with the moose back in the hills.
Further reading
- Moose — Wikipedia
- Red Lodge, Montana — Wikipedia
- Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks — Wikipedia
- Rut (mammalian reproduction) — Wikipedia
Image: GlacierNPS, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
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