[From now on any moose-related blog postings will be titled with straightforward alpha-numeric labels to minimize the possibility of adding still more cutesy moose blog titles to the interweb lexicon. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.]

Our peaceful enounter with the giant bull moose near Breckenridge a few weeks ago was a bit of an eye-opener for this old trail hound. Unexpected, to say the least. Like many Coloradans, I knew moose had been introduced into an area near Walden and that folks occasionally drove up there to gawk at them. But if you had ever claimed to have spotted a moose near Breckenridge I would have given you a funny look and assumed you didn't know the difference between a moose and an elk. Which is exactly what people have been doing to me for the past few weeks.

Turns out there are a lot more moose in Colorado than most of us realize -- about 1000, according to the Division of Wildlife. They didn't get here on their own. Colorado is not exactly prime moose habitat; at best, a few areas in the state are on the very edge of the natural range of moose, which are adapted to colder, wetter northern forests. But some time in the dark musty folds of the 1970s the idea of introducing (note: not re-introducing) moose to Colorado gathered momentum and became reality. The Division of Wildlife dropped a handful of moose near Walden in 1978 and added another batch in '79. In 1986 the wet meadows above Cameron Pass were treated to another dozen. These beasts multiplied and migrated into other relatively pristine enclaves, like Rocky Mountain National Park. Some apparently moved well to the south. They were spotted near Keystone as early as the early '90s (see Daves' comment in previous moose blog), have recently moved into South Park near Jefferson, and have been seen blocking trails near Breckenridge.

Wildlife engineers saw great success in the moose-drop and decided to step it up a notch or two. During 1991-92, they bestowed no fewer than 65 northern moose onto the highlands of Spring Creek Pass in the San Juan Mountains. Spring Creek, between Creede and Slumgullion Pass, is one of my all-time favorite places. (I did a chapter on Spring Creek Pass for my book Mountain Biking Colorado's San Juan Mountains.) I've mingled with the herd of docile elk on the sublime mesa, but never saw any moose sniffing around their new home up there. I look forward to any future encounters we may have.

So now there are indeed moose in Colorado. Personally I'm for it. Moose are cool, when they're not being driven to random acts of violence by their own sexual urges. Hey, how 'bout some Bengal tigers, or maybe some wallabees while you're at it? I'd like to see some ibexes bouncing through Colorado's short-grass prairie. Interesting that everybody can get behind an idea to introduce animals to a place where they wouldn't naturally live, but the thought of re-introducing the livestock-threatening predators who should rightfully own the top of the food chain here is considered to be unworkably controversial.

Welcome to the terrarium-dome.

Robert