MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Shocking video shows Alaska woman being violently attacked by moose while walking her dog

Tracy Hansen was taking her pooch, Gunner, for a stroll in Anchorage on Tuesday, February 16 when a moose charged unexpectedly behind her

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA: An Alaskan woman has reportedly been recovering from her head injuries after a moose knocked her down while she was walking her dog. Tracy Hansen was taking her pooch, Gunner, for a stroll near the sidewalk of Old Seward Highway in Anchorage on Tuesday, February 16 when a moose charged unexpectedly behind her and kicked her in the head.

“I thought someone had not been paying attention and hit me with a bike or something,” she told KTUU. “I had put my hands up to my head, and I’m like, ‘I’m bleeding.’” When Hansen sat up, she realized she had been attacked by a moose that she and her dog had walked past earlier. “Knowing that the moose had been somewhere behind me and now, here this moose is in front of me, and I’m like, was that the moose?” she added.

READ MORE

'He was protecting me': Dog fights kangaroo for 45 minutes to save elderly owner from deadly attack

Man, 77, killed by pet kangaroo that was shot dead after posing threat to first responders

'It definitely seemed unprovoked'

The horrific incident was captured on camera by a motorist, identified as Kate Timmons, who was driving down Old Seward Highway with her family when she witnessed the moose kick Hansen. In the footage, the moose was captured loping down the sidewalk, appearing to gain speed as it advances toward Hansen walking ahead. The animal suddenly slammed the woman before knocking her down on the ground, according to NY Post.

“My husband was able to pull her over the snowbank, so we could get her in the truck with her dog and kind of get her out of the way,” Timmons told KTUU. “It definitely seemed unprovoked from our standpoint and it happened so fast it was just like, a matter of getting her out of the situation, getting her help, making sure, you know my big thing was that she didn’t have a head trauma, that there wasn’t a bleed or something,” she added.

Hansen claimed that she was lucky that Timmons happened to be passing at that precise moment. “Kate and I were discussing that the Lord put her in the right place, at the right time to be able to help,” she said. Hansen was soon rushed to the nearby hospital where she received staples in the head. She is still recovering from the injuries but said it won’t change her routine. “We’ll be back on our normal walks. The moose won’t stop that,” she told KTUU.

An Idaho woman was also attacked by a moose

However, witnessing a moose attacking innocent people is not a rare sight in the United States. In January 2023, a resident of Ketchum, Idaho, sustained substantial injuries in her driveway area after a moose attacked her. The incident took place when an unleashed small dog encountered the moose as it tried to enter the property. The homeowner then attempted to save the pooch but the moose, which was approximately 20 feet away, charged toward her. The moose ran at the woman, hitting her in the head which reportedly knocked her unconscious for a brief time.