I don't suppose there are many moosestrikes on record as being responsible for downing an aircraft......

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A helicopter is not necessarily a match for an angry moose.

Instead of slowing down after being shot with a tranquilizer dart, a moose charged a hovering helicopter used by a wildlife biologist, damaging the aircraft's tail rotor and forcing it to the ground.

Neither the pilot nor the biologist was injured, but the moose was maimed by the spinning rotor and had to be euthanized, wildlife officials said.

"It just had to be one of those quirky circumstance. Even dealing with bears and goats and moose and wolves, this is pretty unusual and truly a very unique situation," said Doug Larsen, regional supervisor for the Division of Wildlife Conservation.

Biologist Kevin White was aboard the chartered helicopter on Saturday for a study of moose near Gustavus, a community of 459 people about 50 miles northwest of Juneau in southeast Alaska. Moose outnumber humans there 2-to-1, White has written in an essay for the Department of Fish and Game Web site.

He shot the animal with a tranquilizer dart, Larsen said, and the pilot maneuvered the helicopter to keep the animal from slipping into a tight space or collapsing in water and drowning. "The moose would start to move, and then the helicopter would back off and try to keep the moose out in the open," Larsen said.

But instead of moving toward open space, the moose charged the helicopter.

"As the animal got closer and closer to going down, an animal sort of loses its thinking -- its ability to rationalize what's in its best interest," Larsen said.

Sometimes it pays to know your animal when up close & personal in a helo. As a 300 hour newbie I'd discovered I could muster emus with an R22. Self taught I was! It wasn't till I met an experienced bush pilot that I learned that emus are inclined to leap into the air (& by inference your MRB disc) when they get excited.

Similarly I learnt that it ain't real smart to do low passes over dams & billabongs neither. Waterfowl instinctively get airborne when disturbed & a pelican or magpie goose through the rotors at diddley squat altitude over water can be bad news too.

Likewise using the grass parallel to the main runway at rural airfields so as not to upset the planks doing circuits can be embarasing if you disturb a feeding roo you didn't notice when passing over it at 10' AGL.

Also watch out for snakes sunning themselves behind fuel drums, farm dogs (especially the ones used to riding in helos, they'll jump into the cockpit given half a chance) and the scariest creature of all.....other people!

Anyone who has operated (for any length of time) in the north will tell you that a Moose ain't afraid of nothin'. Hovering around in front of one is like waving a red flag at a bull. Only a goof or a newbie would try something like that.

It can be hard work correctly estimating the right dosage to get them to sleep.

We found early in the peace with wild bulls that it was always best to land away a bit and always on the downwind side with the exhaust pointing further downwind. Reason? the noise will mask the drug and they may be fighting the drug because of it.

If you walk up to them when they are still fighting the drug they can get up and charge.

A very funny story happened as such one day when a pilot walked up, there were three machines there (lots of noise) and the target a scaly old cow with a good set of racks took off after him.

Well, everyone else fell about laughing while he hot footed for the nearest tree a very slender stem some distance away and the old cow jess can't catch him - hooking at him all the while. T
The Pilot steps in behind the tree and the cow tries to follow and falls over. (no balance because of the drug)

So everyone figured its the same as running away from a crocodile, always step sideways and they can't follow you?