Rocky the Moose:
A Sad Elegy

I need to write this letter. Maybe it is to assuage, to some degree, my remorse in not stopping to educate the mass of witless "well-doers" that stopped and fed "Rocky." By now everyone pretty much knows the story of Rocky, the famous yearling moose that has been the talk of town and an actual roadside attraction from far and wide since he hit the media.

Since November, when I first spotted Rocky, I have driven past him at least three times/week. I knew from the start, with my knowledge and experience with wildlife, that Rocky’s destiny would not have a happy ending. When Rocky became a media celebrity as far as Canada to Rhode Island, the onlookers began to amass to an alarming degree. And it steadily grew.

A few days before Rocky’s sudden illness and demise, I witnessed several people crowded around Rocky, stroking and feeding him God knows what! Actually it turned out to be everything from beer, Cheetos, doughnuts-—enough junk to make even a seasoned junk food addict sick. Because a moose has such a complex digestive system, suited to available food in the wild, they may just as well have given Rocky arsenic.

It is only now, after Rocky’s death, that I have explored what went wrong and what, if anything, could have prevented this grotesque example of pure human ignorance when it comes to wildlife. I have talked with Department of Fish and Wildlife (F&W) as well as the game warden that was involved with this situation from the early stages.

For many who read this, I will be preaching to the choir. Most Vermonters have enough common sense not to feed wildlife. F&W have laws not to feed deer and bear, but surprisingly not for moose, probably because moose rarely interact this closely with humans. Hopefully we can now include moose into that law.

Unfortunately, because F&W were not allowed onto the property of where Rocky took up residence, they were unable to erect a "PLEASE DO NOT FEED ME-—IT WILL SURELY KILL ME " sign. This is very unfortunate, though has to wonder if the request would have been respected.

The other ill-fated component was that the media got hold of this story. It first circulated on our local TV station, which quickly spread to their affiliated stations from Maine to Conneticut and then nationally to CNN. Whoever it was who first called the media – shame on you. Was it worth it?

There’s been speculation and confusion as to how this whole situation could have been better managed on Rocky’s behalf and well-being. Could F&W have relocated Rocky to a more remote area when it was apparent he wasn’t going to leave? Possibly. According to F&W, relocation requires a lot of resources and does pose some risks to a young animal. But so did leaving him exposed to people and road hazards.

Could he have been treated, when he fell so ill? Yes, but only by a licensed wildlife animal rehabilitator. May I note that the necropsy report still has not come back, so we still do not know what exactly ailed Rocky in the end. But I feel my points are still valid.

Wildlife is such a special gift to all of us. We inherently are thrilled to chance an encounter. But it should be in their natural environment—the wild—not in anyone’s back yard. It is completely against a wild animal’s interests to encourage their habituation in any degree. It almost never ends well.

All those uninformed people who put their hand out to Rocky, likely all meant well. But it was their need and desire to touch a piece of wilderness (that they have surely lost in their city ways) that put the hex on Rocky.

I do not have the answers, but I still have a lot of questions. And questions are worth asking to better our understanding in the hopes that, should we ever again have a similar situation, we can avoid such a tragedy. I am sure that Rocky would like us to take a lesson from his too-short life.

Keefer Irwin

Rochester