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Calgary Herald

Mother moose attacks Edmonton senior, baby moose dies after vehicle strike

Trail closures where east Edmonton meets the North Saskatchewan River tell a tale of danger and heartbreak this week after an Edmonton senior was rammed by a protective mother moose foraging through yards with her baby — and lived to tell about it. Article content Article content At 5:25 p.m. last Saturday, emergency medical services was called to an incident near Rowland Road and 106A Avenue in Edmonton. Article content Article content According to media reports, a senior resident was knocked out by a female moose, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries, including three broken ribs, a gash in his leg and a bump on the head. Article content Article content The mother-baby pair made their getaway, and intermittent moose sightings were subsequently reported in southeast Edmonton in and around Fulton Ravine Park and Wayne Gretzky Drive. Article content On Sunday morning, another man, Robert Boyko, was working in his yard when he heard a loud crack from the brush, like something big walking through branches unheeding, and he figured it was a moose. His daughter had seen one the day before. Article content He's very accustomed to wildlife wandering through the yards perched high above the river. A deer or two, the occasional jackrabbit, a bumbling porcupine looking for fresh foliage almost nightly, tottering along the edge of the bank. Sometimes they get at Boyko's garden, sometimes the chicken wire keeps them out. Article content Article content 'Just Saskatoons' Article content He didn't begrudge the mother-baby pair for stripping the leaves and unripe berries off his full Saskatoon bushes. Article content There's still maybe 40 per cent of the berry bushes left, and the bushes are half-full, as far as Boyko's concerned. Article content 'They're just Saskatoons. It doesn't matter,' he said. Article content He's more protective of his fruit trees — including a large, robust plum — which appear to be blooming among deterrent bars of Irish Spring soap dangling from branches, since the moose don't care for strong smells, Boyko said. Article content When he saw the adult female ungulate, he crossed his yard to get out of its way. Live and let live, that sort of thing. Article content 'Then I saw the calf. And of course, the moose is very protective right away, like just my presence here was enough to just get her uneasy, because I moved from there to here, so she probably thought I was stalking her or something, and then she came through the bush there. It was a bit of a bluff charge, I guess,' he recalled.