While firefighters might be known for rescuing cats from trees, crews in Alaska generally face bigger challenges when dealing with animals. Cast-in-point: Soldotna firefighters were called this week to rescue a moose that had become trapped in a resident's basement.
- The moose, a one-year-old bull, had been trying to get a bite to eat when it suddenly found itself crashing through a basement window, says Central Emergency Services Captain Josh Thompson.
"It looks like the moose had been trying to eat some vegetation by the window well of a basement window and fell into it, and then fell into the basement through the glass,"
- Thompson says. Unable to coax the agitated moose up the basement stairs, police called in a Fish and Game official to tranquilize the beast, per Thompson.
- But that created a whole new problem. Officials had to figure out how to get the 500-pound moose out of the basement. They finally rolled the creature onto a large transport tarp, which six men used to carry it up the stairs and outside. Then, once the tranquilizer wore off, the moose "got up and took off," Thompson says.