A 500-pound bull moose has been lumbering across busy highways and wandering through wooded areas in Boston's western suburbs, and authorities hope he finds his way back north on his own.
"Where does a 500-pound gorrilla sleep? Anywhere he likes. That's sort of what we're doing with the moose," said Steve Williams, a biologist for the state Department Fisheries and Wildlife."We have moose come in occasionally and normally they cause no problems, they either wander up back north or find a place to stay for the fall."
"Metro Moose" was last spotted limping into the woods in Weston after a car clipped his hind leg Monday morning. It has been seen at least 10 times in five towns 10 to 15 miles west of Boston during the past week.
Animal control officers, police and state wildlife officials say they can't do much for the moose - believed to have wandered from New Hampshire for mating season - except try to keep people away from him.
Williams said each mating season older male moose chase younger males away from the females.
"At this time of the year, the young males are kicked out of the area and travel in search of mates and in search of new territory," Williams said.