Lovesick moose enlivens Calais leaf season

CALAIS – A young moose has been hanging out on the street and looking for love in all the wrong places.

At least that is what the Calais Police Department believes.

The moose, for the past few weeks, has visited several residential areas in the city’s Milltown area, and on Wednesday was spotted near the Wal-Mart store on South Street.

“It’s the time of year. It’s their mating season. They are not probably thinking very clearly. Love is on the brain instead of common sense,” said Officer Dave Claroni. “So that is why they are probably coming this way.”

No one bothered to check if the Calais visitor was male or female. All police would say is it was “antlerless” which was obvious even to the untrained observer.

It may be a fall love affair for the moose, but not for South Street resident John Steadman, who had a more practical use for the animal. “He’d look awful good in my deep freeze,” he said with a grin on his face.

Although police have responded to numerous calls of moose in the area, this moose seemed to be fairly unconcerned as it strolled along several back yards, munching on brush and watching those who were watching it.

“We have had a couple of calls the past few weeks, people seeing them by the tennis court, and I believe on Lincoln Street, by the time we’ve responded, they’ve been gone,” Claroni said.

Claroni said his department contacted the Maine Warden Service, which advised officers to run their vehicle sirens or to fire a gunshot over the moose’s head to scare it back into the woods.

“We’re in a residential area, so I don’t think a gunshot would be the best move,” he said. “The goal is to try and keep him away from traffic so he doesn’t cause a traffic accident or become a road hazard.”

Although the police repeatedly sounded a siren Wednesday, the moose didn’t appear flustered. It occasionally interrupted its munching to look at the police car, then resumed chewing.

South Street resident Richard Trader said the moose had visited his back yard for the past two days. “You just talk to him and he will come right out to you,” Trader said. “He just flicks his ears, back and forth, that’s about it. He just stays right around.”

Six-year-old Ashley Worsham had her own ideas about the strolling giant. “I thought it was a deer, that’s what I thought,” she said. She said that once she learned that it was a moose, she was not afraid. “I think moose are scared of us,” she said. “Because you never see them around that much.”

Sgt. Josh Moffitt said he believes the moose eventually will go deeper into the woods once winter begins. “I don’t think there is enough food around here to sustain him,” he said.