Wild animals are a relatively common sight in Wyoming communities, but Evanston residents are appreciative of how well-behaved a cow moose they call "Big Betty" has been while wandering around the town.
“She’s very calm. It’s kind of odd. She’s just so mellow and peaceful,” Evanston resident Patty Ann Cote told Cowboy State Daily.
The Bear River corridor near Evanston, as well as the nearby Bear River State Park, are good moose habitat.
So it’s not unheard of for moose to venture into town from time to time, Wyoming Game and Fish Green River regional wildlife supervisor James Hobbs told Cowboy State Daily.
Game and Fish and local authorities got a few calls about Big Betty when she first showed up, but apparently nothing that required a response.
It’s thought she meandered back out of town sometime late last week, although she might still be hanging around nearby.
Critter Encounters
During the past month or so, photos and updates about Big Betty kept popping up on social media.
She was popular, and people didn’t seem to have anything bad to say about her, Cote said.
“She’s just been making her way all over town, she does not even care that there are houses, cars driving and people walking. She doesn’t care. This is her town and nobody else’s,” she said.
Cote was among several people who caught photos of Big Betty strolling along streets, passing homes and businesses, or hanging out in yards.
While Big Betty’s Evanston visit went without a hitch, in other instances, moose and urban residents haven’t been so tolerant of each other.
In 2023, when a young bull moose showed up in the middle of Laramie, Game and Fish decided not to take any chances.
They tranquilized the moose on the Slade Elementary School grounds. The moose was taken into the Snowy Range Mountains and set free again.
And when mountain lions show up in towns, there’s no hesitation.
Recently, mountain lions have returned to the wild after being captured in Thermopolis, Laramie and Cheyenne.
Good Human Behavior
As much as people in Wyoming love seeing wildlife, Game and Fish admonishes urban residents to not feed wild animals or otherwise entice them to hang around, Hobbs said.
When animals get too acclimated to people, they can become aggressive, he said.
And prey animals, such as deer or moose, can draw predators into towns, he added.
Feeding animals, particularly during the tough winter months, can seem like an act of kindness. In reality, the “dietary adjustment” from natural to artificial food sources isn’t good for animals, Hobbs said.
During the severe winter of 2022-2023, some people were so moved by the plight of deer, they tried feeding the deer hay.
However, game biologists explained to Cowboy State Daily that because the deer couldn’t properly digest the hay, it was killing them.
Moose Don’t Want To Be Friends
While Big Betty apparently had no conflicts with people, it’s best to keep away from moose, Hobbs said.
Visitors to Bear River State Park are warned to keep their distance, particularly from cow moose with calves.
Momma moose can be extremely protective, and are nothing to trifle with, Wyoming wildlife photographer Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven previously told Cowboy State Daily. He said he was once chased up a tree by an irate cow moose.
In 2024, a man who pushed too close trying to get photos of moose calves was charged and killed by the calves’ mother.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
