Vermont: It's No Use, Moose

• Share

Ah, the rites of autumn, when a young moose's fancy turns to thoughts of love. But one suitor is so smitten that he does not seem to mind that his intended is a Hereford cow named Jessica. The 700-lb. moose has been courting his bovine beloved at the farm of Larry Carrara in Shrewsbury, Vt. Undeterred by the amusement of some 4,000 onlookers, the moose has made several amorous advances, only to have the cow trundle away.

Not only is Jessica not interested, she has a white-faced bull friend by whom she has borne two calves. Says Carrara: "She is very good-looking." Even if she relented, the mating would not produce a hybrid moose-cow, since the animals' chromosomes do not match up. Time is running out as well for the lovelorn moose. The end of the mating season is at hand, and he is expected to drift back to his own kind.