Rochester’s ‘Rocky’ the Moose Dies
By Martha Slater

"Rocky," the Rochester moose who became quite famous in recent months for his sociable personality, died Tuesday, Feb. 19, when he was euthanized by Fish & Wildlife officials after it became apparent that he was suffering.

According to Fish & Wildlife game warden Lt. Douglas Lawrence, one of the things Rocky was suffering from was the effect of a diet of fruit, oats, doughnuts and other human food fed to him by well-meaning people. A moose would normally get through the winter on aspen and other twigs, and Rocky’s diet was like a human being existing on junk food.

Since last September, Rocky had hung out on the property of Michael and Wendy Andrews, on the Brandon Mountain Road. He was about five months old at the time and it was surmised that his mother had been hit by a car. Over the next few months, Rocky began to attract many curious folks, and appeared to lose his natural fear of people. He would often walk over to a car and stick his head inside, where people would feed him doughnuts, apples, oranges and bananas.

After a story about him appeared on WCAX-TV, Rocky had become famous even outside of Vermont when his story was picked up by CNN and by other TV and radio stations around the country. When Rochester selectboard chair Larry Straus was on a recent ski trip in Canada, he was astonished to hear about Rocky on the radio.

Rochester Constable Tom Simpson said that in recent days he had noticed that Rocky had "slowed down a lot and was not very active. He was usually in the same place when I went up the mountain and when I came back down."

Things came to a head this past Sunday, after a large number of onlookers stopped by and Rocky was given a lot more of the food he shouldn’t have eaten. The following morning, Wendy Andrews noticed Rocky laying down, with his legs outstretched, and worried that he had been hit by a car. She contacted a veterinarian and followed the advice she was given, administering a mixture of Gatorade and Pepto Bismol.

The following day, with temperatures in the 20s, Rocky was still not up and about, and Fish & Wildlife officials arrived. So did Bristol veterinarian Dr. Keely Henderson, who told them that to survive, Rocky needed to be moved and given fluids. However, Lawrence said that Fish & Wildlife prohibits anyone from treating big game.

When Andrews tried to give more fluids to Rocky, she discovered that his torso was swollen, he had a frozen leg, and he was struggling to breathe. After he had been examined by a wildlife biologist, a game warden ended Rocky’s life with a single rifle shot to the head.

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