Moose death on Alaska schoolyard probed

PALMER, Alaska, April 22 (UPI) -- Officials of a rural Alaskan school district said they were looking into the death of a moose that was reportedly taunted by middle school students.

The animal, which was injured when it wandered onto the grounds of Colony Middle School in Palmer, may have panicked and charged repeatedly into a wall, the Mat-Su Valley (Alaska) Frontiersman said Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the Mat-Su School District told the newspaper they could not provide too many details because of student privacy standards; however they assured the public that Monday's incident was not being ignored.

"People will say, 'Nothing's being done,'" said Catherine Esary. "That's not true."

Alaska State Troopers told the Frontiersman that teachers apparently didn't see the moose until after an eighth-grade physical education class had been sent outside.

A group of students apparently surrounded the animal and taunted it to the point that it threw itself into a wall repeatedly until it died.