Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 11/98) - A pair of large, unannounced visitors to Yellowknife caused quite a stir on Wednesday when they took a leisurely stroll down Franklin Avenue.

Maybe the two moose were up for a day of sightseeing in the city or, maybe, with all the hunters in the bush, they figured the safest place for a couple of fun-loving moose was downtown Yellowknife.

Sam Thornhill was in his van heading for Old Town on a leisurely drive around the city taking pictures when he first noticed a commotion going on.

He said he noticed some renewable resources officers on the scene and followed them out to the old ski club site where he got quite a surprise.

"I got out of my van to take a look and these two moose came out about 30 feet or so away from me.

"I snapped a couple of quick pictures and then jumped back in the van.

"I'm from Newfoundland, so I've seen moose before. It was an average size cow and, I'd say, last year's calf."

Renewable Resource officer Josh Hunter said it's a very rare occurrence for moose to make their way into Yellowknife.

He said the moose probably ended up here after a nighttime swim.

"They pretty much ran me in circles for awhile," laughed Hunter.

"They had a stroll down Franklin Avenue, which was kind of neat. I hadn't seen that before.

"Then they crossed Franklin and headed up towards Niven Lake, across the lake towards the ski hill and then 'outta town,' so to speak."

Hunter said the department really didn't have to do much during the moose's stroll, just try and make sure the furry wanderers didn't end up downtown or in a residential area.

"We conducted more of what I'd say was moose safety rather than crowd safety. We just wanted to make sure these animals didn't get hurt.

"There's lots of tags being issued out of Yellowknife, but you wouldn't have been able to hunt these anyway because they were inside city limits, but we wanted to make sure they got to the bush OK after they were finished seeing the sites."