A moose that attacked a Salt Lake resident died Sunday afternoon in Toll Canyon.
Officials with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources believe the 800-pound bull died of natural causes. It was malnourished. It also probably suffered hypothermia from being partially submerged in a creek, DWR Sgt. Scott White said.
"We're always sad when an animal we do so much for and try to get going dies," White said. "We realize it's part of nature."
The moose died in an area far from roads, and DWR officials plan to leave the carcass in the wild, White said.
But Nick Baldwin, the 65-year-old retired radiologist whom the animal kicked and stomped, wants an autopsy on its brain to determine whether it is diseased.
"I think this might be important not only me, but for people who encounter moose in the future. Why bury it, literally?" Baldwin said.
On March 3, the moose went after Baldwin and his friends, who were snowshoeing in Toll Canyon, near Parleys Summit. Baldwin received a fractured scapula, injuries to the soft-tissue of his left, lower leg, a laceration in his elbow, a scratch near his nose. He said Sunday he is recovering well.
White said moose choose flight or fight when others are in their territory. "With the snow, (this moose) felt it couldn't run away," he said.
The moose was tranquilized after it tried to attack DWR officers, which was after the attack on Baldwin. Officers decided against euthanizing because "we always try to give the animals the benefit of the doubt," White said.
Moose should only be down about 15 to 20 minutes after being tranquilized. This moose was down about 1 1/2 hours. Then it left. But when officers learned the animal had not moved from another location, they began checking on it and feeding it willow brush once or twice a day.
White discovered the moose kneeling in a creek Sunday morning. It either fell or walked down a hill and into the creek. It was not there the night before, White said.
For 2 1/2 hours Sunday morning, White shoveled a path away from the creek for the moose. The moose did not use it. Then officers tried lifting the animal. About that time, it died, White said, around noon.
Baldwin originally did not have an opinion about tranquilizing the moose because he just was happy to be alive. Now he does.
"Any moose stomping, any bear mauling — you ought to just kill them. Because they don't pay taxes and I do."
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com