A moose made its way down to Boulder on Sunday and spent part of the day relaxing in a cemetery at the western edge of the city.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Jason Clay said wildlife officers did get reports of the moose in western Boulder, though officers did not need to take any action.
Photographer Nico Toutenhoofd was able to get a shot of the moose, which Clay said appears to be a young female, sitting down in Columbia Cemetery at 1201 9th St. just after noon Sunday.
“My neighbor called me and said, ‘Nico, there is a moose in the cemetery,’” said Toutenhoofd, who lives a few blocks away.
Toutenhoofd, a former Camera staff photographer, hopped in his car and headed to the cemetery where he saw a small group of people watching the animal from a distance.
“The moose was just chilling, chewing on the grass, looking at us, chewing on more grass and then looking at us again,” Toutenhoofd said.
Toutenhoofd said despite one walker who did not appear to see the moose and had to turn around, the animal never got agitated.
“I was only there for about five minutes, but she just sat in one place the whole time,” he said.
Toutenhoofd said other residents in the area had spotted the animal in the area an hour earlier, but he does not know how long the animal stayed in the area overall.
While moose in Boulder are not completely unheard of, Clay said it is unusual for the animals to come down to lower elevations.
“Moose do come down from the mountains from time to time, but overall I would say that is out of the norm,” Clay said. “About once a year do we get a moose make it into the metro area and we have to move them back up into the mountains.”
Toutenhoofd was has lived in Boulder for most of his life, and said it is the first time he has seen a moose in Boulder.
“I’ve seen them up at Eldora, Indian Peaks, near Estes Park, but never seen any in Boulder,” Toutenhoofd said. “I was born in Boulder, so I’ve seen bears and mountain lions in town, and obviously foxes and coyotes. But never a moose.”
Clay said wildlife officials are hoping the moose’s foray into the city was a short one.
“Being at lower elevations is not good for moose, as they can overheat,” Clay said. “But sometimes they just wander their way down following riparian areas and end up lower than what is ideal for them.”
