"So when you see moose, up in the sky, you soon will see moose who're going to die..."

Motorist: 500-pound moose 'fell out of the sky'

May 12 2009 08:01PM CDT

Police said a 500-pound moose fell 18 feet to its death when it apparently leaped a guardrail on an Interstate 95 overpass and landed on Hinckley Road. Officials learned of the incident when a motorist called the town office shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday and told assistant town clerk Shirley Bailey that "a moose just fell out of the sky."

Bailey said the driver, who was under a bridge when he spotted the falling moose, was "pretty excited about it." Bailey said she at first thought the caller was drunk. "We get falling moose calls from drunks all the time," she said.

Police Chief Charles Runnels said the yearling bull probably panicked because of the noise and traffic along I-95 and began running. He said it just picked the wrong spot to try to cross the interstate, falling onto the road instead of landing in a field. "There was a clearly marked moose crossing within sight but the moose apparently didn't notice it. It could have saved his life," said the shaken police veteran.

A passerby with a wrecker hauled away the carcass. It was not clear if any of the moose's next of kin had been notified.