Alaska Moose Roadkill Program
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Alaska roadkill thieves target moose meant for charity. By the trooper-sponsored program that alerts the Alaska Moose Federation so carcasses can be quickly delivered to recipients on a state. People can sign up for the roadkill salvage program run by the state Department of Fish and Game. The Alaska Moose Federation (AMF) is a local charity that helps its members haul away roadkill.
Roadkill moose program in Alaska puts meat on tables of poor peopleRocky Mountain News ^ 26 Dec 01 Rachel D'Oro
Posted on 12/26/2001 8:08:03 AM PST by real saxophonist
Roadkill moose program in Alaska puts meat on tables of poor people
By Rachel D'Oro , Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The moose calf loitered near its dead mother when Billy Dickerson Jr. and his nephew arrived to collect the carcass.
Dickerson and Cody Dyer parked their pickup near the sports center of Alaska Pacific University, in midtown Anchorage. Then they trudged through deep snow and dense woods behind the complex, heading uphill toward the dark form of the fallen cow. Startled, the calf bolted.
'I think it's big enough to survive winter,' Dickerson said of the calf. He then turned his attention to the work at hand -- salvaging the meat for charity.
It's an act repeated hundreds of times each year. Alaska Fish and Wildlife Protection troopers coordinate a roadkill program that puts moose meat on the tables of poor Alaskans. Nonprofit groups, including churches, sign up to take turns collecting the remains of animals hit by cars and trains. Under the program rules, they must give the meat away to anyone who asks.
Other states have roadkill programs, but primarily for smaller animals such as elk and deer, not moose, which can weigh half a ton or more. Maine is among the few Lower 48 states with moose. It gives motorists first right to roadkills, then donates unwanted animals to the needy.
Charity takes priority in Alaska, where vehicles kill about 700 moose annually and trains kill about 120 a year.
Those averages put the state behind only Sweden, where 4,000 to 6,000 moose are road casualties each year, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Often, traffic collisions only maim moose, so authorities must shoot the animals. In the Anchorage area, that job frequently goes to Fish and Game wildlife biologist Rick Sinnott, who shot the university moose after it was seen limping around the school grounds.
A trooper dispatcher then called Dickerson, 41, whose name was next on the contact list as a representative of the Anchorage Baptist Temple.
'This isn't for everyone,' Dickerson said, tying a nylon rope around the dead moose's neck.
A lifetime hunter, Dickerson estimated the 1,100-pound animal would yield 700 pounds of meat. But first, he and 14-year-old Cody had to figure out the best route to drag it through 300 yards of spruce. Otherwise, they'd be forced to cut it outdoors, not a pleasant prospect with the temperature at 15 degrees above zero and dropping as the sun set.
Dickerson was undaunted by the possibility, even though he was dressed only in T-shirt and slacks. Field dressing a moose in bitter cold releases a gush of steam that generates a lot of heat, he said.
By this time, his father, Billy Dickerson Sr., had pulled into the university parking lot with Cody's brother, Tyler Dyer, 19. The elder Dickerson's task was to pull the animal to his truck with a winch.
In the woods, Billy Dickerson Jr. and his nephews tugged hard on the rope. A half-hour later, the moose was in the bed of the truck. Next it would be butchered at Dickerson's house, then donated to the Anchorage Rescue Mission.
To spread the bounty, troopers run the roadkill program in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Fairbanks and the Kenai Peninsula, said Eileen Brooks, program coordinator for the Anchorage region and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
'It gives more folks a chance for free meat,' said Brooks, known among colleagues as the Queen of the Gut Pile. Apna tv show. 'A lot of people can't afford to buy steaks or even hamburger, at least judging from the calls I get.'
Brooks said 99 nonprofit organizations are signed up this winter in the area she manages.
Among them is Abbott Loop Community Church, a two-decade participant that averages 10 moose a year, according to member Steve Tandy. The meat is distributed through a community food pantry at the church.
'We always have lots of moose available to whoever wants it,' Tandy said. 'We never turn anyone away.'
Participants occasionally are called to salvage black bears, Dall sheep or mountain goats, Brooks said. But the great majority of collisions involve moose. In Brooks' jurisdiction alone, 151 moose have been killed between Oct. 1 and Friday. That's above average for this time of year, she said.
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That's nothing. I was driving through Wisconsin and hit a 1200-pound cheese once.
Somehow, even a really big string of fresh-water moose seems dull by comparison.
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On another note, these people are nuts. That moose will trample them if upset
Roadkill moose program in Alaska puts meat on tables of poor people
This is a title that says to me....MOVE ON! MOVE ALONG! SAVE YOUR STOMACH!
Dan
road casualties each year, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
HEY PETA!!!
Wanna' do some real good?
Get over to the Socialist 'Cradle-To-Grave' Society of Sweden!
You've got some work to do there!
Now I've heard of bears in trees, and cats in trees, but I have never heard of moose in trees. The next time a moose bites my sister, I'll tell her to chase it towards a tree, then I'll let loose the dogs to keep him up there.
FReegards,
Agreed.
The only more insane I've personally witnessed was a couple of people basically doing
the same thing with Buffaloe..cows with young, no less!
Somehow, they happened upon the most docile buffalo cows in the Wichita Mountains Preserve
in southwest Oklahoma.
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