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Was expense of the moose hunt necessary?
Published Friday, October 24, 2008
I read the article on the moose story and had to ask myself: Why send over a half a dozen fire trucks and we do not even know how many police cars to a sighting of a moose in town?
I am told the moose was sighted by Cleveland school and within a short time was out of the city limits and going away from town. Was this needed? What is this going to cost the taxpayers? I feel this was a bad call on somebody’s part.
Who made the call to use all these resource's at tax payers expense.
John Strauch - Fergus Falls
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by Joe (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 12:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
John - Safety, safety, safety. First, I don't believe anyone was 'hunting' the moose. It was more of a moose motivational maneuver - better known as a '3M' amongst moose management membership . . .
The trouble with moose is, on a scale of being potentially dangerous, they are much more threatening than a chipmunk and, in fact, not much less so than a runaway Mac Truck.
Moose are wild critters and can be a bit unmannerly at times. They are also known to sport a little 'tude when the passion of the season stirs them.
Recently, a fellow I heard about was annoyed with a rutting bull moose loitering on the road in front of the car he was driving. The driver honked his horn at the moose . . . and the moose took exception. Now it was the moose's turn to be annoyed. The moose all but destroyed the vehicle in his subsequent moments of irritation with the little, noisy car.
Calling out emergency crews to direct this critter to a more appropriate area was a good move for all parties. Thank you, Fergus Falls.
Posted by tsy86h (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 12:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Do you not realize how dangerous moose can be? Moose are enormous animals that can do a lot of damage to objects and people. They needed to get that moose out of the city as quickly and safely as they could. When wildlife shows up in cities it usually draws attention and before long you have a bunch of cars driving by, people standing around with cameras, and maybe even trying to approach the animal. Not that I don’t enjoy taking pictures of wildlife, but all of this attention can frighten an animal and this moose may have become agitated and became dangerous to people. What if they would have just let him be and he wondered into an area where children were playing, or down Lincoln Ave. They decided to take action right away instead of waiting to see if the animal would hurt itself, or someone else. This may have even prevented them from having to kill the animal. Just think of all the hate mail then.
Posted by tippy98c (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Luckily for the moose he didn't wander into Frazee.
Posted by bucksteel (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 1:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This letter shows just how out of touch Mr. Strauch is with the reality of running City Government. Perhaps he would have called for Divine Intervention rather than let the local authorities handle it. Or he could have called on the Reverend Cooper to wrestle it - people would pay money to see that. It's good that there are other choices in these elections.
Posted by luvmyboys (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 1:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not a smart move Mr. Strauch. You sound like you would not approve of the city spending $$ to keep the residents of Fergus Falls safe. You do recall that this moose was on Cleveland Hill right? Do you realize how many children this moose could've harmed? It is the 'rutting' season, and moose are one of THE MOST dangerous animals at this time.
They did not waste resources... they infact lost sight of the moose, so they set up a perimeter in case the moose headed back towards town, during peak morning traffic time.
I for one THANK all involved for doing what they could to keep all of us safe. EXACTLY what I expect my tax dollars to go towards!!
Posted by TKay (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 2:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes this was necessary for all the reasons listed above. Thank you to those involved to insure our safety!
Posted by konedog4 (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 3:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If the moose (obviously deranged and out of its normal habitat), had attacked some child you would not have the opinion you have. You would then be complaining that the city did not act forcefully enough.
JCK
Posted by whostruth (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 4 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry John, but thanks for the your compasion of saving the tax payers money, it is nice to have a watch dog even thou we may not always right, do not let this make you down , thanks again and keep it up!!!
Posted by mccain08 (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 4:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
there are deer everywhere! call the national guard.
Posted by tippy98c (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 4:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sarah Palin is used to having moose around and John McCain has the tenaciousness and experience to protect us from large moose.
I heard Obama once kept a rutting moose as a pet while working in Chicago.
Posted by tippy98c (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 4:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you for the article Mr. Strauch. Although the need for a response was justified at some level, I agree with whostruth, your stock went up in my book.
Posted by classof76 (anonymous) on October 24, 2008 at 11:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is ridicules. The emergency personnel should know how to deal with a moose on the loose!! It is not by scaring it with all these big red trucks and cop cars. What an excellent way to make it panic and to hurt someone. Did anyone call the DNR? Left alone the moose will usually walk out of town the same way they came in. Refer to how the City of West Fargo just handled a similar situation. Next time the law enforcement agencies better have a better plan in place for this kind of situation so someone does not get hurt.
Posted by ANonnyMoose (anonymous) on October 25, 2008 at 7:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Have any of you criticizing the City's actions stopped to consider that the large response was not to keep IT away from US, but to keep US away from IT? In such instances there's great potential for gawking, which in and of itself can create a crisis situation when dealing with dangerous wildlife. It was a sensible tactic. That kind of maneuvering takes a few people to accomplish. A job well done by emergency personnel, and they should be commended.
Posted by tippy98c (anonymous) on October 25, 2008 at 1:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Very good point NonnyMoose.
And guess what residents in the area did when they saw emergency vehicles lined up and down the street. They couldn't get out to the yard fast enough to investigate. People who normally would gave been sitting at the table drinking morning coffee were wandering in their yards.
Posted by wwjdt (anonymous) on October 26, 2008 at 11:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I cannot stand reading the "Skip" comments, please get a life.
Secondly, moose are wild animals. NonnyMoose was right on, as well as luvmyboys.
Posted by MNfrozen (anonymous) on October 27, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
These are some funny comments!!
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