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Conservation officers shoot starving moose after dog attack

Weakened animal ‘obviously very ill’
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MOLLY THE MOOSE - Conservation officers were forced to euthanize this well-known cow moose near Pemberton after she became emaciated and was later attacked by dogs. Photo by John Tshcopp

A starving cow moose, known to locals as Molly the moose, was shot by conservation officers near Pemberton last week, 10 days after dogs attacked it.

Residents had known the young female for two years, and many were upset by the incident, with calls coming for dog owners to manage their pets more responsibly.

Resident Barbara Brooks had seen the cow in the area for two winters, but said it was not around in the summers.

She said it was a sad story.

"It was obviously very ill, it wouldn't have survived. (Shooting) it was better than having the coyotes attack it when the animal is so weak," Brooks said.

"We're taking away their habitat, we just moving in everywhere. People are ruining the world."

Allen McEwan of the Pemberton Wildlife Association went to the scene when he heard the moose was to be put down.

"The conservation officers described the animal as being severely emaciated and I can concur. When you put you hand on her spine there was just skin and bones, absolutely no flesh left at all, she was just this walking scarecrow," he said.

McEwan added that after the March 25 dog attack, the moose collapsed and had to be helped to her feet. Human intervention, he said, might have worsened her condition, with people possibly giving her food that she could not properly digest.

"One of the big concerns that comes out of this is the inability of a lot of dog owners to manage their pets. It is a violation of the wildlife act to allow your dogs to harass wildlife and while it wasn't the cause of her death, it certainly didn't help," McEwan said.

For more on this story, read Pique on Thursday and go to www.piquenewsmagazine.com