Do Moose Eat New Mown Hay?


As I was driving home yesterday evening my nose detected the sweet smell of new mown hay. I had just past through Lowell when the scent came through my open window bringing to mind the richness of June. It also reminded me of a recent "Otus the Head Cat" column in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “Peripatetic moose Myron no threat to the public.”

This column, a “humorous fabrication,” contends that a moose, Myron, stopped traffic on Interstate 540 near Lowell after having wondered over 70 miles from the Buffalo River. Now the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has a great record for re-establishing wildlife populations, including an elk herd on the Buffalo, but they haven’t gone quite this far … yet. Maybe this story was the inspiration for the bumper sticker I saw this past weekend on an antique, bright yellow jeep, “I break for moose.”

In verifying that this was fiction, I found information about a couple of great Arkansas parks, first, Boxley Valley (pictures), then, Lost Valley, both part of the Buffalo National River Park. These are great outdoor locations worth visiting this summer, moose herd not withstanding!

My apologies if I told any of you this “moose story” as fact. Still, isn’t it a great story?