At the end of the summer of 1997, Flannista biked nearly 850 miles of Alaska in about 10 days with a dozen folks. Our guide told us to be careful because we all biked at different speeds and sometimes would be biking alone. "MOST OF ALL," he warned, "stay away from moose which are much more dangerous than you realize". On the third day of the bike trip, Flann did come across a mother moose and her calf. I got off my bike and waited until they were very far away before I resumed pedaling.
Yesterday, I discovered the above photo in her Facebook news feed, accompanied by this copy:
Giant Jack the moose stands six feet tall, weighs almost 1,000 lbs. and is very protective of his tiny best friend Vanessa Gibson. The 23-year-old has nurtured Jack since he was three days old and the enormous moose is fiercely protective of her. Playing tag and run, and taking walks around the beautiful grounds of the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Centre in Portage, Vanessa and three-year-old Jack are inseparable.
What does Vanessa's boyfriend think? To find out, click here to read more about Giant Jack and Vanessa. To tell you the truth, they kind of remind me of Matissta and her dog, Huckleberry.
Any one else see this story in their Facebook news feed?
I have to confess that I'm not certain how to feel about Vanessa and her relationship with Giant Jack. At first, I was kind of awed by the photo in this post, so much so that I googled Giant Jack and found the article and decided to post about it.
But I woke up this morning feeling a bit cautious. Vanessa plays tag with the moose?
Hmmmm.
Posted by: Flannista | January 09, 2013 at 04:19 AM
Any of you have the gift of being able to whisper to a parTICular animal? I whisper to Scout a lot in the middle of the night when she pokes my head for me to love on her. I swear she whispers back.
Posted by: Flannista | January 09, 2013 at 06:11 AM
Good morning, Flann. I believe it is very possible for people to have an ability to communicate in some way with other living things. I've never had the ability to whisper with any particular animal, but when I was walking Wye Island regularly, I was able from time to time to walk up quite close to animals - or rather they would approach me, which is quite unusual. It happened with fox and deer, with wild turkeys and woodpeckers, with quail and bald eagles. Once, I walked out of a thicket of small trees into an open corn field and startled four deer. They took off across the field. Halfway across they abruptly stopped and looked back at me. Over the course of the next ten minutes or so they walked back toward me until they were quite close, just staring at me and cocking their heads from side to side. Eventually, the elder deer of the group gave a loud snort and they took off for real, clearing the field in great leaps and disappearing in the woods on the other side. It's nothing like the relationship of the young lady and her moose, but it's magical just the same.
Posted by: treesta | January 09, 2013 at 07:20 AM
Certainly, it's magical -- and you've honed that magic somehow, treesta, just by the way you walk in the woods. I've watched you. It's not like you walk. It's like you worship -- and I mean that with a lot of respect. Animals must pick up on that.
Posted by: Flannista | January 09, 2013 at 07:44 AM
Cool post. Only hope people do not get wrong impression and go hug a moose. No doubt animals pick up on tone, fear, comfort. My Dad's father had the gift. A teamster as in horses and wagons, but abilities were with dogs, livestock and others. Too bad his human relationship skills may not the best.
Sons have picked up on some of these talents. Have known several hunters who have waited years for moose tag who when finally encountering the prey cannot fire. Moose normally do not run like elk, deer etc. Does not seem sporting.
Being part of nature makes one whole. However, many far removed. Like the knuckleheads who try to pose their child with bison in Yellowstone. Regardless of warnings, not uncommon for a death or severe injury as respect and reverence set aside for amusement.
Posted by: Nowayasista | January 09, 2013 at 08:36 AM
Flann, I can see why this reminded you of me and Huck. However, this is a MOOSE! A 1,000 lb moose. Huck's only 90 lbs and a dog.
Obviously, Giant Jack looks at Vanessa as his mother; raising him since he was 3 days old. Otherwise, this would never work.
Good for her to also still respect the strength of this animal. He could easily hurt her without meaning to. It's smart for her to leave him when she feels "uncomfortable".
I have a way with dogs and I guess cats now, because of the way Jem responds to me. Although I have next to no experience with horses, my sister-in-law's horse has always liked me. He's very sweet and enjoys rubbing his nose on me.
Posted by: Matissta | January 09, 2013 at 10:00 AM
Also, I'm with noway. I hope someone doesn't see this news story and think they can suddenly approach a moose, and then try to hug it!
Posted by: Matissta | January 09, 2013 at 10:01 AM
Loons typically keep their distance from people, a few times they have come close when I am floating in the kayak. But, one morning while swimming in Cable Lake, two loons popped-up right beside me, eye-to-eye. It didn't last more than a minute, but it felt like a blessing and I had a glimpse of what St. Francis may have felt when birds flocked to him: "Lord, make me an instrument of they peace ..."
Posted by: PEACEsista | January 09, 2013 at 10:13 AM
If Vanessa's boyfriend can overcome the inferiority complex, he is a keeper.
My 6th grader is reading "Call of the Wild" right now, and I know we would both give a moose a wide berth.
Posted by: babysis | January 09, 2013 at 10:43 AM
Matiss -- I enjoy rubbing my nose on you, too.
Posted by: Flannista | January 09, 2013 at 11:20 AM
Flann, I don't mind you rubbing your noise on me as long as you blow it first.
Posted by: Matissta | January 09, 2013 at 11:27 AM
Uh, oh, you, two: Someone just mentions "Call of the Wild" and there you go!
Posted by: PEACEsista | January 09, 2013 at 02:15 PM
Babysis requested an update on the hit-and-run yesterday. This just in from noway who heard it from a woman married to a cop:
"Woman is in ICU with bleeding on the brain (which can mean a lot of things.) Baby is okay and with inlaws. Either the woman, or her husband, is in the military. No word on perpetrator."
Posted by: PEACEsista | January 09, 2013 at 02:20 PM
Moose are unique among North American Ungulates because they live in family groups instead of herds. They are protective of their families. If Vanessa really started caring for the animal when it was three days old, I'd imagine it is possible that the moose thinks Vanessa is his family. But judging by those Antlers (and it says he is 3), Jack might be about ready to split off of his family group and go start his own, which is what the young bulls do, and Vanessa should probably be sensitive to that, otherwise he's probably going to get all moose hormonal and get crazy and dangerous. You know, learn from the Grizzly man.
Moose are funny, they are one animal I've been around that really knows its bigger than you. They don't scare easy, I've watched them from fairly close for probably an hour at a time when I've been fishing and hiking.
I think Animals understand tone, body language, tension, and pressure...they also really appreciate consistency. Animals are not smart, though they are curious, and they do not understand your thoughts or ideas, and they only communicate in return using tone, body language, tension, and pressure. It's been fun working with my Wife's little 3 year old horse...you realize pretty quick that it does no good to wonder what the horse is thinking or to get mad at it for doing things wrong, because the truth is, Animals don't think much, they don't plan (with the exception of some predators), they mostly just react, and the only real question you need to ask yourself is: what pressure am I putting on the animal to make it react that way and how do we come to a more appropriate conditioned response? As long as you act consistently, by applying and releasing appropriate pressures without scaring the animal, you usually get the reaction you're looking for. Even in moose:
http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/9595/
I think wild animals might be similar, I've had my share of times when I've encountered them, stopped and stood still, and they don't immediately run away, but I think mostly they are waiting for me to act, so they can react. In my experience animals in nature seem to be concerned with two things: "What can I eat?" and "What can eat me?"
If your cat pokes you in the middle of the night for attention, your cat thinks you're its beast of burden. I think this has been mentioned before, but it is difficult to convince cats that you are the boss, they have no herd mentality.
Posted by: Peter | January 09, 2013 at 02:31 PM
On the hit and run note...my wife is pretty sure she saw the guy fleeing the scene just before 2, a guy flew up to the intersection of Capitol and Lincolnway when she was driving down Lincolnway and slammed on his brakes, then after she had turned onto Carey he pulled up next to her at a red light on 17th Street, stopped for a second, then ran the red light, cut someone off and turned right onto eighteenth...she was kind of staring at him because she said he was hitting his steering wheel and freaking out in his car, but she said he was an older white guy with facial hair and glasses in an older boxy blue sedan, possibly a toyota camry, and that he did not have Wyoming plates. None of this sounds super helpful, but she called the tips number with all the information yesterday night anyway, maybe they'll find a camera along that route.
Posted by: Peter | January 09, 2013 at 05:53 PM
Thank you, Peter and PEACE, for the update on the hit-and-run victim. Please do continue to keep us posted on the details. So ironic -- and perhaps a break in the case -- that your wife may have seen the perpetrator.
Posted by: Flannista | January 09, 2013 at 06:52 PM
Peter -- I just love reading your comments. I always learn something that I didn't know before. Matissta and I saw the documentary, "Grizzly Man" when it came out -- fair warning to ANYone who thinks he or she can outwit or out love or out-whatever animal instincts or Mother Nature. Your observations about "tone, body language, tension and pressure" were very insightful. I know that you have spent a lot of time in the wild and your wisdom about it is palpable.
Just one thing: my Catties think ALL THE TIME. And THEY PLAN. They never merely react. I live with them. They do not live with me. I freely admit that they are the boss. Their two reasons for living: eating and napping. Oops -- one more -- amusing themselves for hours on end with a wine cork.
Posted by: Flannista | January 09, 2013 at 07:05 PM
noway -- there's a poem in your 8:36 a.m. comment and someday soon, I'm going to poemize it.
Posted by: Flannista | January 09, 2013 at 07:06 PM
PEACE -- speaking of your loons, just this past week while I was walking around the lake near my house, the blue heron suddenly flew past me, from left to right. I hadn't seen it in the shallow water, and it just came swooping up. I felt like I could feel the beating of its wings, I was that close and had never been that close to it. It was breathtaking; so breathtaking that I said out loud spontaneously: "Thank you, Jesus."
Posted by: Flannista | January 09, 2013 at 07:10 PM
Matissta is very modest about her ability to "whisper" to anything with four legs. I've seen her with other dogs. I've seen her with other cats. Heck, I've seen her with cows and horses and pigs at county fairs. She has the magic.
Posted by: Flannista | January 09, 2013 at 07:12 PM
So raising goats to make goat cheese isn't so far off?
First, I need the land.
Posted by: Matissta | January 09, 2013 at 10:13 PM
Oh heck, Matiss -- my back yard might work until one of us wins the lotto.
Posted by: Flannista | January 10, 2013 at 04:05 AM
Woke up to this email from babysis:
*****
Two significant typos in your 6:52 pm comment on the blog. I trust you can find them.
*****
I'm assuming that I mis-used "ironic". What am I missing?
Posted by: Flannista | January 10, 2013 at 06:19 AM
I believe you don't see them because I fixed them.
Posted by: Matissta | January 10, 2013 at 07:37 AM
Oh, good Lord, I just found my original 6:52 comment, and saw what I posted. Good grief. It was a loooooong day yesterday.
Thank you, Matissta, for fixing those completely unintentional typos; one being parTICularly unfortunate. I'll try to be more careful. All apologies.
Posted by: Flannista | January 10, 2013 at 07:42 AM