by Tim Mowry / tmowry@newsminer.com
May 27, 2011
FAIRBANKS — The white moose that has been seen kicking around Delta Junction the past two years is evidently still kicking.
Jacob White was on the Tanana River in his riverboat Tuesday night when he saw the moose on the bank of the river in roughly the same area it was seen by boaters last fall.
“I was just cruising up the river,” White said. “I saw it from about a half mile away. I thought it was a horse for a second. Then it was like, ‘Wait a second; that’s an albino moose.’”
White snapped some photos of the all-white moose, which his wife, Ana, posted on her Facebook page.
“I wish I had gotten better pictures,” White said.
While there has been some debate as to whether the moose is a true albino or not, White said the moose had pink eyes and a pink nose.
Albino moose are not common, but they occasionally appear as the result of a double recessive gene passed through generations, according to state wildlife biologists.
The white moose, which appears to be a cow, was first spotted in Delta a little more than a year and a half ago as a young calf with its mother, a normal-colored, brown cow. Since then, it has been spotted several times in the same general area around Tanana Loop Extension and Jack Warren Road. Before the latest sighting and pictures taken by White, it had been several months since the last sighting.
“She’s within 10 miles of where she was seen last year,” White said, not wanting to divulge the specific location to avoid hordes of sightseers who might harass the animal. “She’s out feeding on some grasses on the Tanana River. She’s looking pretty good. We’re glad it’s still running around.”
Dave Davenport, a technician at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Delta Junction, said “chances are good” that it’s the same white moose that has been spotted around Delta Junction for the past year and a half.
Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - All white moose sighted near Delta Junction
http://newsminer.com/bookmark/13478793-All-white-moose-sighted-near-Delta-Junction
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