WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A wild bull moose that wandered into Worcester, Mass., and startled machinists at a factory warehouse has been killed by police, officials say.
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Capone said the decision to allow police to kill the young moose came after multiple attempts to drive the 2-year-old animal away failed, The Boston Globe said Wednesday.
"It was a public safety decision," said Capone, who noted the moose was in close proximity to rush-hour traffic during Tuesday's incident. Authorities said the incident likely was during the animal's first mating season.
Sonja Christensen, a deer and moose biologist working for the state, concurred that using lethal force was the best safety precaution due to the delayed timing of tranquilizer darts.
"If the animal is darted, those strikes take up to 15 minutes to work," she told the Globe. "In that time, you could have that mildly sedated animal wandering onto roads and other dangerous areas."
The newspaper said it was the fourth time environmental officials have authorized the killing a moose since June.
