The “Magical Moose” Atka that called the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo home has passed.
That’s according to a news release from the zoo on Wednesday, which said Atka had passed Tuesday morning.
According to the zoo, this occurred during an operation to add additional hoof support after a previous piece had come loose on Sunday, despite previously responding well to anesthesia; Monday’s operation needed assistance recovering, and despite monitoring him, he died.
Atka was a six-year-old Alaskan moose who weighed roughly 1,300 pounds according to the zoo. He first arrived at the zoo as an 8-week-old orphaned calf at just 91 pounds.
Atka had to undergo surgery three and a half years ago according to the zoo to remove one of his eight toes, as to prevent progressive bone degradation in his hoof. The zoo says he was doing well for years without the toe until recently.
In August, the zoo worked to address this by adding additional hoof support, which he responded to well before needing more treatment after it came loose.
“I remember trying to clean the barn with him next to me,” Courtney Rogers, the former senior animal keeper, said in a release. “He loved the wood shavings bags, and he would ‘help’ me clean by pawing at the bag and rolling in the shavings to spread them around. He was so playful, and he adapted really well to life in human care. He took great joy in knocking toys over and running full speed into his pond.”
Atka got his nickname, the “Magical Moose” from those who cared for him, stating, “There was something you couldn’t quite name about Atka that ‘moose magic’ summed up perfectly. He had a way of making people feel seen”.
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