Have You Caught A Glimpse Of The Hudson Valley Moose On The Loose?

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — As always, the best way to see a moose is from a distance and more and more Hudson Valley residents have had that opportunity recently.

Over the past week, several moose spottings have occurred in the region. Here is the most up-to-date timeline of the Hudson Valley Moose's travels.

The first moose sighting was captured on video as the large deer was caught on camera high-tailing it through the AMC Loews Movie Theatre parking lot on Eagle Road in Danbury, CT during the morning rush hour last Tuesday.

Western Connecticut State University meteorologist Jack Drake posted the video to his Twitter account around 8:30 a.m.:

"DANBURY: FULL MOOSE VIDEO. Credit to Michael Bower thanks for sharing," Drake wrote. "The sightings of this moose have led to the general idea that the moose is moving east to west. Early reports a few days ago indicated it was in the area of Woodbury. Yesterday it was spotted near Old Hawleyville in Newtown. Last night and this morning, it’s been seen heading towards New Fairfield."

It seems, however, the moose may have only made a quick cameo appearance in Hat City. Danbury Animal Control Dispatch told Patch's Rich Kirby that his report was the first they heard of the moose sightings.

Daryl Pitman of Danbury told Hudson Valley Country that a moose was in his backyard before it sauntered down to Best Buy, Lowe's and the movie theater in the Connecticut town close to the NY border.

"Moose Update:Our moose appears it has made its way out of the city and into more rural areas in adjacent New York State," Drake said in an update posted on Sept. 27. "This amazing image was taken earlier this evening by Randy Jones in Pawling. The trend of the moose sightings had been east to west. It went from Newtown yesterday to Danbury, and overnight to Brookfield and New Fairfield. This image was taken just over the border in Pawling, NY, and depicts a moose of similar size and stature. Riding off into the sunset!"

The moose was most recently spotted in East Fishkill last Thursday. Victoria Anderson LaPerchea, a bus driver for the Wappingers Central School District reported seeing the moose cross in front of her school bus at 6:39 a.m. on Palen Road. Joanne Coffey Burns told Hudson Valley Country that a moose trekked across her driveway around 3 a.m. on Friday. On Sunday, a moose was seen on a trail cam in the Cold Spring/Garrison area.

The New York State DEC says that "in New York, most moose are located in the northeastern part of the state in the Adirondack Mountains and the Taconic Highlands along the Massachusetts and Vermont borders."

Friday night, however, a young moose who tried to jump over a fence in Barkhamstead, CT got stuck. Two local fire departments and the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection ENCON Police removed part of the fence and freed the moose who appeared uninjured and was able to walk away.

Connecticut DEC officials wrote about the harrowing ordeal:

"Disclaimer: This moose was not harmed in anyway, read on to hear the story!! Picking up where we left off this summer with cool rescue stories, Wardens were called out around midnight last night for the report of a moose stuck on a fence in Barkhamsted. At face value it appears the moose is impaled by the fence but in reality he’s just stuck unable to get his rear legs over and his belly kept him from going backwards. After some discussion, the decision was made to call in the fire dept to cut one end of the fence and pull the panel down with a truck slowly. Well thanks to members of the Barkhamsted Fire Dept and their jaws of life, they cut one end of the fence panel and the force of the moose was able to separate the other side having the fence piece fall right to the ground. After about 15 seconds or so, the moose slowly walked away which turned into a slow jog back to the edge of the reservoir disappearing into the darkness. This time of year male moose are actively trying to find mates to breed with thus sometimes finding themselves in awfully peculiar spots, just like the moose this week wandering around the parking lot in Danbury! Huge shoutout to Barkhamsted Fire and the Connecticut State Police Troop B! Ps. We don’t know what happened to his other antler, we can only think maybe it got snapped off while fighting with another moose."