COURTLAND, Kan. (KCTV) – When one thinks of states to see a moose, Alaska, the Dakotas, Colorado or those in the Northeast come to mind.
Certainly not Kansas!
But that was the case for one family in Republic County on Wednesday evening.
Caleb Mahin told KCTV5 that he and his three children had hopped into his truck about 6:45 p.m. and driven to an area near Courtland where friends said they had seen a moose earlier in the day.
Sure enough, they found a bull moose running in some fields.
“Somehow we got lucky to see him!” Caleb said.
He added that some cattle nearby didn’t know what to think of a moose in their field. No doubt, those who saw him were just as surprised.
Moose have been spotted in Kansas before, but it is extremely rare.
The last one to be seen in the Sunflower State was in December 2019. Ironically, it was in Scandia, just more than seven miles from Courtland. Before that, the last reported sighting was in 1989.
Laura Rose Clawson, chief of public affairs for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, said this particular moose has been in Kansas for a week after coming down from Nebraska.
A Kansas family spotted a moose in Republic County.(Caleb Mahin)
Clawson cautioned those who see the moose to observe from a distance and not cause it to stress.
“Do not try to interact with the moose,” she said. “There is a possibility of illness as a reason for wandering. It is also the tail end of rut (moose mating season), so there could be aggressive breeding behavior.”
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