Drawn by spilled salt, moose gets 'stuck' at MDT

A wayward cow moose found itself inside the perimeter fence of the West Glacier Montana Department of Transportation facility at Nyack Flats last week.

The young cow moose apparently wandered inside the fenced enclosure after it was licking salt from the ditch, which drains the facility.

Once inside, a passing motorist was able to shoo the moose out of the fenced area, but a dump truck honked its horn as the moose left and it ran back inside the enclosure, where it wandered around looking for another way out. Another passing motorist went to a local house and called 911, hoping to get some traffic control assistance or an MDT worker who would have the key to a back gate of the fence, which was locked. The moose could have easily gone out the back gate into the nearby woods.

The moose wandered around inside, visibly stressed from the heat for more than two hours until the motorist, with help from another private individual, were able to open the back gate. But the moose then opted to go out the front gate just as a Montana Highway Patrolman pulled up, which helped slow traffic.

The problem, neighbors maintain, is the facility isn't properly storing the salt used on roads and it's draining off into the ditch on a regular basis. Deer, moose and elk are drawn to the salt and frequent the ditch, which is about 30 feet from the edge of the U.S. Highway 2.

Neil Anderson, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Region 1 Wildlife Manager said that while FWP doesn't have jurisdiction over the highway department, the agency does work closely with them. He said he planned on investigating the matter, as any wildlife attractant is a concern for wildlife and human safety.

"It's something we can talk to MDT about," he said.

Anderson said he planned on visiting the site in the future.

An MDT official who oversees the site could not be immediately reached for comment.