Please don't taser the Moose!

[Feuer Frei!]

FAIRBANKS — It’s OK to use a Taser to stun a mugger, but you shouldn’t do the same to a moose — unless it’s about to stomp you.
The Alaska Board of Game passed a statewide proposal prohibiting the use of electronic control devices, aka Tasers, for hunting, but the new regulation does not prevent people from using a Taser on animals in defense of life and property.
According to a press release issued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on Thursday, the department submitted the proposal after media attention about the use of Tasers on wildlife, particularly bears and moose, and subsequent public and wildlife safety concerns related to their use.
“The department recognized the lack of authority to regulate the use of (Tasers) on wildlife and brought the concern to the Board of Game,” the press release stated. “Restricting the use of (Tasers) will reduce the risk of improper or unethical use on wildlife by the public or other agency personnel who are unfamiliar with the potential effects and hazards.”
“This is referencing all use of (Tasers) for incapacitation of game in Alaska,” Lewis said.

The department isn’t as concerned with a hunter killing a moose or bear with a Taser as it is “catch and release hunting,” Lewis said.
“Conceivably someone could Tase a moose or bear, go up and get a picture taken with it, shut the (Taser) off and then release the animal,” he said.
With no regulations on the book to outlaw such an action, “it’s ripe for abuse,” Lewis said.
“What we wanted to do was kind of head off at the pass any non-trained use of this equipment,” he said.
ADF&G staff and personnel from other agencies, such as law enforcement, may be authorized to use Tasers on wildlife, but only after going through an intensive training course taught by Lewis, a certified Taser master instructor and receiving a permit. About 25 state wildlife biologists have been trained in the use of Tasers on wildlife so far, Lewis said.
Wildlife biologists in Fairbanks unsuccessfully used a Taser on a cow moose a little more than two months ago in an attempt to stun it so they could remove a rope from its neck. The moose had been roaming an east Fairbanks neighborhood with the rope since early January, when residents rescued the moose from the Chena River.

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