Wild Encounter With Moose Catches Kimball Junction Family By Surprise

PARK CITY, Utah — A family was caught by surprise recently when efforts to scare a moose away from a Kimball Junction backyard went sideways.

Reynalda Godinez and her daughters, Shelly and Ashley, first saw the moose approach last Thursday.

“Yeah, I tried to scare him,” Godinez shrugged Wednesday, describing the moment when she approached with a broom to try to get the beast away from her landscaping.

She had feared the moose was going to eat her trees.

“The moose came right back at her as soon as she was scaring it,” Ashley Godinez said.

Video Shelly captured of the moment shows the moose starting to charge into the backyard and Reynalda turning and running as Shelly and Ashley could be heard screaming.

@gatica801Ok here’s the original lol @ashleyjuarez16 #fyp #goviral #comedy #mom#moose #utah♬ original sound – Shelly

Reynalda Godinez fell as she scrambled toward the house and scraped and bruised her knees.

“I tried to run inside but I couldn’t outrun it,” she said.

Fortunately, the moose did not attack her further and instead continued off around the side of the house.

“It just stopped right here and went back to eating trees,” Ashley Godinez said.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said Wednesday moose sightings were likely to be more common this year in drought conditions and that it had received multiple calls over the past couple of weeks about aggressive moose in the Park City area.

Moose Encounters On The Rise In Utah As Extreme Drought Conditions Persist

The division said signs a moose may become aggressive include lowering its head, hair standing up on its neck, licking its snout and pinning its ears back.

Officials encouraged people to give a moose space and watch their behavior, avoid approaching the animals, stay calm and do not run.

Dogs should also be leashed and kept under control at all times.

If a moose does charge, officials advise people to hide behind something solid or go indoors.

The video captured by the Godinez family immediately went viral, since logging more than 30 million views on TikTok.

The family said, however, it would definitely caution people to be careful after their experience.

“We never really thought that would happen,” Shelly Godinez said.