Moose Census Reveals Anchorage Population

There are roughly 1,540 moose living in the Municipality of Anchorage, according to a recent count by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The population is just slightly higher than it was last year, but is part of an overall decline over the past 10 years, said wildlife biologist Jessy Coltrane.

Fish and Game is supposed to keep the moose population in Unit 14C, the Anchorage and Eagle River area, anywhere between 1,500 and 1,800 animals. Coltrane says that helps minimize human-moose encounters, like road collisions, while still maintaining enough moose for hunting.

Moose are more visible this time of year, because there’s been so much snowfall up in the mountains, which drives the animals into lower areas in search of food.

Moose in the yard

They're practically everywhere, this time of year. We have a couple that frequent the neighborhood where I live, and a mom who usually produces twins - very common in moose - every year, at the building I manage in mid-town.

I'm not one of the bleeding hearts that thinks we should all move elsewhere to "give the land back to the animals" ... that way lies idiocy. But they serve as a reminder that the wildlife was here before Anchorage, and we have to share the land with them.