BUTTE — A moose family, including a bull, a cow, and calf, were running loose in Butte near Walmart and a very busy Harrison Avenue on Thursday morning.
The unexpected visitors drew quite a crowd.
“It’s really different, I didn’t plan on waking up and chasing a moose around town,” said eyewitness Amy Wassberg.
The moose were first reported at about 11:30 a.m. on a field south of Walmart. Witnesses said they were very mobile.
“You know, I watched them hop this gate up here, it’s a ten-foot gate they jumped. They got some hops,” said eyewitness Dustin Buell.
Police and game wardens used vehicles to try to keep the moose from entering Harrison Avenue and push them out of town.
“The cow moose can be very aggressive that way trying to protect its baby, also with the traffic on Harrison Avenue, they become a danger to traffic if a car would hit it,” said Butte Undersheriff George Skuletich.
Police were not only dealing with the moose - they were also investigating a suspected stabbing and a traffic crash in the same area.
For some spectators, it was just a typical Thursday morning in Butte: “Only in Butte, Montana, can you get a car wreck, a stabbing and a wild moose chase,” said Wassberg.
Game wardens report the moose were pushed out of town by Thursday afternoon.
