A moose that was captured by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on the morning of Monday Sept. 21 in the city of Troy had to be euthanized Tuesday after it was unable to stand up after 22 hours of observation.

To protect public safety, DEC staff made the decision to tranquilize the moose in an attempt to relocate it to a more suitable location. The moose was transported to the Capital District Wildlife Management area in the town of Berlin in eastern Rensselaer County. When the moose regained consciousness, he was unable to stand up or use his rear legs. After 22 hours of observation, including the regular monitoring of vital signs, DEC biologists determined that the moose was unable to recover and made the decision to euthanize the animal.

DEC Regional Director Keith Goertz said, “Euthanizing an animal is not a decision we take lightly and is always an option of last resort. In this case, it was the most humane option for the animal.”

On Tuesday, the moose was brought to DEC’s Wildlife Health Unit in Delmar where a pathologist performed a necropsy. Preliminary necropsy results indicate that the moose had severely torn muscles in both inner thighs, which could have occurred by the slipping and splaying of the moose’s hind legs (essentially doing a split). This may have occurred when the moose traveled from Watervliet to Troy on his last swim across the Hudson River, where he would have had to traverse large slippery rock shores at low tide. Due to the very high stress level of the moose, adrenaline may have allowed him to travel to the backyard in North Troy, where he was eventually immobilized. There were no signs of any pre-existing injury on this moose, but it is likely that the leg injuries occurred before the animal was chemically immobilized.