SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — By one expert's estimate, Utah is home to between 2,500 and 3,000 moose.
Despite being plant-eaters, they are huge, stubborn, territorial and tend to be solitary animals.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources spokesperson Faith Heaton Jolley said moose are so large that people simply should not take chances around them.
Dr. Nicki Frey offered this explanation for moose behavior: "They have decided where they are going to be, and they are the biggest thing around, and they're not used to being told what to do."
In Alaska, wildlife managers report moose injure more people than any other wild animal.
In Utah, however, the wild mammal responsible for the most human deaths is the mule deer — not through attacks, but through vehicle collisions.
In 2023, the Division of Wildlife Resources and Utah Department of Transportation received 3,843 reports of vehicles hitting and killing wild animals. Mule deer accounted for 98% of those incidents — roughly 3,611 accidents.