Moose are not typically agressive, but if they’re provoked they can be quite dangerous. Adult males tend to weigh between 1,200 and 1,600 pounds, while adult females tend to weight between 800 and 1,300 pounds.
Moose tend to show very specific behaviors when agitated, including raised neck and back hairs, flattening their ears against their head, snorting, and lip licking. If one does attack, it usually does so with its front legs, kicking with its hooves. Even with smaller young moose these kicks can do some serious damage, and failing to respect the animals, as this snowmobiler does, can have some pretty serious consequences.
This guy is lucky the moose just bluff charged him, rather than actually attacking. The video was embedded to start right around the charge, but it’s a full 15 minutes of this snowmobiler following the moose along a trail, clearly stressing and agitating the animal and increasing the chances of an attack. If he had just given the animal space at let it move along, the entire interaction probably would have been much shorter and much less dangerous. Read more on moose safety below.
National Park Service Moose Safety Guidelines:
Give moose plenty of room!
Always view moose from a distance. Cow moose are extremely defensive of their young so use extra caution around cows with calves.
In the summer months, moose can blend in with their environment and be surprisingly hard to see for such large animals. They are likely to stand their ground even when they hear people approaching. Pay close attention to your surroundings, especially in prime moose habitat such as willow thickets or around streams and ponds.
If you do stumble upon a moose:
- If it hasn’t detected you yet, keep it that way.
- If it knows you’re there, talk to it softly and move away slowly.
- Don’t be aggressive. You want to convince the moose that you aren’t a threat.
- If you think the moose is going to charge you, run away or take cover behind something solid like a tree.
Watch for signs that the moose is upset.
If the moose’s ears are laid back and the long hairs on its hump are raised, it’s likely to charge. Most of the time, a moose’s charge is a ‘bluff’, or warning for you to get back – a warning you should take very seriously! Once a moose bluff charges, it is already agitated.
Unlike with bears, it is okay to run from a moose.
If a moose charges, run away. They usually won’t chase you and if they do, they’re unlikely to chase you very far. If you can’t run, get behind something solid such a tree. If a moose knocks you down, curl up in a ball, protect your head with your arms and keep still. Fighting back will only convince the moose that you may still be a threat. Only move once the moose has backed off to a safe distance or it may renew its attack.
Help keep both yourself and the moose safe by being respectful of their space and habitat.