Backyard moose shakes up Saturday morning routine in East Spokane

Jonica Burkett awoke at her home near Sheridan Elementary on Saturday morning to an agitated cat.

A slightly larger animal was waiting for her in the backyard.

“I saw a ginormous moose sitting there, and I thought, well, I don’t have to mow my front lawn,” said Burkett, a photographer and digital artist who recently moved to Spokane from Alaska.

Burkett said while her cat, Kiki, was “going absolutely nuts,” she was “content to let a sleeping moose lie.”

Multiple neighbors started knocking on her door to inform her that, yes, there was a female moose bedding down on her lawn.

The Department of Fish & Wildlife responded Saturday morning to the scene off Sixth Avenue, where game officials have seen moose activity in the past, said Staci Lehman, a spokeswoman for the agency in Eastern Washington.

“It was just a young moose in a bad location, which has happened in that area before,” said Lehman. It’s believed the moose may travel north from the more agrarian Glenrose area to the neighborhood’s immediate south, Lehman said.

Game officials did not have to use a tranquilizer dart on the moose, instead pushing the animal with their trucks to a greenway where the moose was able to take off on its own. Lehman said it’s the discretion of the officers and field biologists whether to use a tranquilizer, and it’s often not needed if the animal chooses to get up and leave on its own, as the moose did Saturday.

“We do ask people not to follow them,” Lehman said.

Lehman said as of Sunday afternoon the department had not received any additional calls about moose in the area.

Burkett said the episode had the added benefit of introducing her to those who knocked on her door. She and her husband moved to Spokane from Alaska in January 2020, right before lockdown orders were issued.

“I didn’t know a whole lot of my neighbors until yesterday,” she said.

The Department of Fish & Wildlife encourage anyone who encounters a moose, either in an urban or rural environment, to keep their distance. Agitated moose, especially mothers with calves, will charge and cause dangerous situations. Bulls will also always protect their territory.