Meditating moose renews our perspective
The moose in question, by a grove of trees.
You know it’s going to be an interesting week when someone in your office says on Monday morning, “Did you know there’s a moose in the meditation garden?” And, indeed, there is.
A young cow moose found her way to Paulsen House late in July and was having a nice time munching on the raspberries and napping in Gloria Waggoner’s serene garden at the northwest corner of the yard. When we called 911 (the preferred moose-reporting procedure in Spokane), a wildlife officer came to track her down. Soon he’d made a call to his department who dispatched biologists to administer a tranquilizer. This would make it safe to move her to a trailer and eventually to a new habitat near Mount Spokane.
Moose have a certain charm. When I was at Glacier National Park in June we saw a couple of moose near Many Glacier, each followed by a small army of curious tourist-photographers who seemed oblivious to the dangers of following a moose too closely. They crunched through the underbrush with zoom lenses, looking for that perfect close-up.
Urban moose are even more fascinating. We get used to seeing skunks and raccoons and even the occasional coyote in town, but a moose is an exotic and intriguing beast. And a very big one. It takes a lot of will power (and good sense) not to follow them around like moose groupies.
I wondered, watching this lovely creature make herself at home in the garden, if when the city folk are going to the lake for the summer the moose were vacationing in the city.
The young officer spent most of the morning monitoring our moose as she wandered from the garden to the lawn to the grove of trees near Canterbury Court. We tried to be quiet and stay out of the way so that she didn’t get ’spooked’ and run into the street.
By the time the biologists and some other helpers arrived, the moose had disappeared into a thicket and, when she emerged, they administered the tranquilizer. Unfortunately, tranquility did not come right away. She bolted into the street and into a passing pickup truck. Fortunately, neither driver nor moose was hurt.
When the tranquilizer took hold our moose collapsed near the cathedral, just outside Dean Bill Ellis’ home. The biologists and their helpers placed her in the trailer and into the care of the wildlife folks. Just another day at the office.
Summer can be like that. Full of surprises. On a hot day in July when there were worries about the economy; when the Lambeth conference was going full-steam ahead; when our morning prayers remembered wars, disasters, famines and poverty, one of God’s magnificent creatures changed the subject for a couple of hours. And a great big animal helped us to appreciate anew the wonders of creation.
