"I Like Thursdays"-- A Moose in the Cemetery

Photo courtesy of Nico Toutenhoofd, Boulder Daily Camera

For my friend LeeAnna's "I Like Thursdays" linking party, I'd like to share the story of the moose in the cemetery. 

Wildlife is often spotted in Boulder.  Being so close to the foothills and the mountains, we often see deer and bears, and sometimes bobcats and mountain lions.  I myself have seen three bears since moving here and the previous owner reported that she once saw a bobcat in our yard.  A mountain lion was filmed recently on a security camera in an alley a few blocks from here.  But moose?  Moose like the higher elevations and as a rule they don't make their way down here. 

But on the Sunday the 17th a young female moose somehow lost her way and ended up in the old cemetery down the block from our house. I first caught wind of her presence the way one always does with wildlife sightings--by the crowd of people gathering to look at something.  Being curious about what was going on I made my way over to the cemetery to see what was up.  There several groups of young adults, maybe CU students, were standing around quietly taking photographs of something with their phones.  Was it something related to CU graduation?  Or was a couple getting married?

As I got closer I thought I saw a dark horse stretching his neck up to eat leaves from a tree.  But then I spotted the big ears and I knew it was a moose.  I joined the quiet, awestruck crowd and respectfully kept my distance while I admired the beautiful animal. 

I was charmed by her and also by the many well-behaved young people who had come out of their apartments to see her.  I thought it was pretty cool that there were so many college-age kids who came out to watch her in such a respectful manner. 

I wondered how she was going to safely make her way back up into the mountains and called the Animal Protection office.  They were more sanquin and said they were making frequent visits to be sure no one was bothering the animal but otherwise were going to let her work things out.

Well, things didn't work out too well.  Early the next day a moose was hit by a car about a mile from the cemetery. 

Now, you may wonder why I'm including this in a post that is supposed to be about good news and things we're enjoying.  Well, given that the moose didn't make it home, there is a sweet ending to the story.

Monday of this week I was walking Turbo early in the morning through the cemetery and we came upon the scene shown in the photo below.

And as I got closer I was touched to see that someone had taken the time to make a beautiful and gentle memorial to the moose. 

And it did make me smile!

Linking to my friend LeeAnna's "I Like Thursdays" at Not Afraid of Color