POCATELLO — Everybody has heard of the Easter Bunny.
But you could say on Sunday that Old Town Pocatello was visited by an “Easter Moose.”
A 13-second video submitted to the Idaho State Journal by Constance Bajerski shows a young bull moose running loose at Pocatello High School on Sunday afternoon.
Bajerski, who works for KISU at Idaho State University, said she was driving to her father’s house for Easter Dinner when something strange caught her eye at approximately 3:45 p.m. Upon closer observation, it turned out to be a moose hanging around the premises at Pocatello High School.
After identifying the animal, she turned off of North Arthur Avenue and drove behind the school on North Garfield Avenue, where she spotted the animal again. Then, she pulled out her cell phone and started filming.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” she said. “I was just surprised I was able to get the video working so quickly.”
As the phone camera rolled, Bajerski said another car driving up North Garfield spooked the moose, causing it to run away from the side of the building and onto the road. Bajerski admits she is not experienced in filming wildlife, and the sight of the moose running on the road made her nervous.
“It was huge,” she said. “It was the size of a horse!”
Luckily, the moose ran south. Bajerski said she observed Pocatello police trying to “escort” the moose back to the foothills, with officers blocking traffic in Old Town as the moose made its way south. Officials with the Pocatello Police Department said officers worked to make sure the moose did not hurt anybody in the area.
When the Idaho Department of Fish and Game responded to Old Town, a conservation officer found the moose resting in the yard of a home on West Halliday Street. The moose had an injury to one of its antlers, and Fish and Game described the animal as "exhausted."
Later, the moose moved on its own to a shady area near Centennial Park along the Portneuf River before safely heading back to its natural habitat in the foothills west of Pocatello.
As for Bajerski, she said she was a few minutes late for Easter dinner, but she had an excuse.
“I told my family, ‘Sorry I’m a little late but I ran into a moose,’” she laughs.
