PROVO, Utah, June 18 (UPI) -- Utah officials say the state is not to blame for damage done to two cars at Brigham Young University by a rampaging moose.
Division of Wildlife Resources regional supervisor John Fairchild said while state wildlife officials did shoot the moose with a tranquilizer dart prior to it entering a university parking lot, the state should not be held liable for the ensuing car damage from the June 4 incident, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Wednesday.
"It wasn't negligence on our part," Fairchild said. "It was darted in an area that we felt was safe. Had it been in a parking lot, we probably would have waited."
An unidentified state insurance official supports Fairchild's claim, saying the state division was not liable.
But the owners of the cars damaged by the animal insist the state was responsible for the damage, estimated at nearly $3,000.
"A moose wouldn't have charged my car if they hadn't shot it with a tranquilizer gun," Cassandra Elton, one of the car owners, told the Tribune.
"They deal with enough wild animals to know something like this could happen," the second car owner, Chris Hair, said.
