Of Moose And Men Shaggy Beast Causes Stir While Having Lunch In East Valley Neighborhood

Gizmo the dog got a big surprise when he went out for his Friday morning potty break.

The 7-pound papillon, which lives with Janice Everhart in the East Farms neighborhood of the Spokane Valley, found himself eye to hoof with a young bull moose.

The moose had jumped a 4-foot-high chain-link fence and was browsing in the back yard about 8 a.m.

Gizmo recovered from the initial shock and did what any good dog does when confronted with an intruder: He raised a ruckus.

“I let my little doggie out to do his thing, and the next thing I know, he’s barking his head off,” Everhart said. “I thought, ‘Oh no, there’s a cat in the back yard.”’

Everhart said she stuck her head outside to see what was going on and spotted the 600-pound moose, which was looking down at the yapping Gizmo with a serene expression.

“The moose just seemed more amused than anything,” she said. “He was just beautiful, with little horns and a goatee and everything.”

Everhart said she herded Gizmo into the house and grabbed her camera. Curious neighbors came out to watch. One woman threw some apples to the moose, but the animal ignored them.

“He did go over and gnaw on my apple tree,” Everhart said.

When a crowd began to form, the moose spooked and charged a Spokesman-Review photographer who stood on Everhart’s back porch to take a picture.

The animal then jumped over the fence and ambled away.

Everhart said it’s unusual to see wildlife in her residential neighborhood near the Idaho-Washington state line.

But a biologist for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said the East Farms area historically has served as winter range for moose, elk and deer.

Housing developments like Everhart’s were built smack in the middle of that habitat, said biologist Woody Myers, who added this year’s early snows may have prompted the moose to move to lower altitudes sooner than expected.

Steve Zender, another Fish and Wildlife biologist, said moose populations in Eastern Washington are on the rise, increasing the chances of seeing a moose.

“There’s getting to be a lot more moose,” Zender said. “Moose are great wanderers, and they go wherever they want.”

It was the second sighting of moose in the Inland Northwest this week. A cow moose died Monday in North Idaho after falling through thin ice on Lake Pend Oreille and drowning as dozens of people watched.

A yearling bull also fell through, but made it to shore with the help of Idaho Fish and Game officials.

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