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HAMPTON — People attending a conference at the Windsor Institute got a surprise on Wednesday, Oct. 8 as a frisky moose decided one of their pickup trucks was really attractive.
Mike Dunbar, owner of the business at 44 Timber Swamp Road, said the moose had a pretty amorous affair with a Ford F150 truck owned by one of his conferees.
"I pulled in this morning and at first thought there was a horse in the driveway but then realized it was a moose," Dunbar said. "It kind of circled the truck. It put one leg up and then a second front leg. After a few minutes, it became obvious what was going on."
Dunbar said people attending the conference were soon outside taking pictures of the unusual affair.
"The guy who owned the truck kept beeping his alarm, hoping it would scare it off, but I guess he thought it was the call of the wild," Dunbar said.
The moose eventually wandered off, Dunbar said, leaving the embarrassed owner with a scratched up truck.
"It's a nice truck, red, very pretty," said a laughing Michael Speck, who is from central New York. "It was interesting. I feel very blessed."
Speck said he doesn't know if he'll report the incident despite his truck being scratched up pretty heavily on the front. He wondered how he'd even explain it.
The Windsor Institute, according to its Web site, was founded by internationally renowned chair maker Mike Dunbar and his wife Sue. It is the only school in the world dedicated to teaching Windsor chair-making.
Mark Ellingwood, a wildlife biologist with N.H. Fish and Game said he had never heard of anything like this happening before. "I would call it atypical behavior," he said. "It is possible that the behavior is associated with a neurological disease that sometimes affects southern New Hampshire moose. It's called brain worm and can result in lethargy and other behaviors out of the ordinary."
A second Hampton resident, Pat Barnaby of Exeter Road, on Thursday reported seeing a moose appear to behave the same way with her Ford van this past Tuesday night.
"He's making his mark around the place evidently," Barnaby said. "He's a youngster because I've seen bigger. I think it must be the same one. He was strangely attracted to my yard and nothing police or animal control did made him want to leave. They threw things, shined the lights on him and whooped their sirens. I took flash pictures. Nothing startled him. He was cool, calm and collected."