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CNS Story:
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MOOSE MINISTRY Mar-29-2006 (710 words) xxxn
Alaskan charities salvage meat from dead moose for families in need
By John Roscoe
Catholic News Service
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNS) -- When the phone rings at midnight, Barb Trombley doesn't panic, even though she knows it's probably the state troopers on the line.
Trombley, a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Soldotna, Alaska, is one of about 40 representatives of area charities who work in conjunction with the state troopers and Alaska Department of Fish and Game to salvage moose that have been hit by vehicles and killed.
"We've got a moose down," the voice on the phone says. "Can you come?"
Trombley always says yes, no matter what time it is.
She's normally got 15 minutes to get to the scene of the collision, so she throws on her clothes and races out the door. She places a flashing light on her vehicle, dials up a fellow parishioner who has signed up to salvage the meat, and then sits tight.
If all goes well, the parishioner arrives with sharp knives and plenty of help, and the job is done in as little as an hour. Or, it might take five hours.
The parishioner must completely remove the carcass so as not to leave an unsightly mess that would attract scavengers.
When the site is clean and the animal butchered, the parishioner gives Trombley a portion of the salvaged meat for the church freezer and keeps the rest for personal consumption.
The church then distributes its portion, usually about a quarter of the meat, to families in need.
Last fall Trombley resurrected the parish's "moose-kill ministry" after a hiatus of several years. She's been called six times this winter -- always in the middle of the night -- to salvage a moose.
The Alaska State Troopers have operated the meat salvage program on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula since at least the early 1990s, according to Fish and Game wildlife technician Larry Lewis. There are similar programs in other regions of the state with large moose populations.
On the Kenai Peninsula, 1,742 moose have been salvaged over the past seven years ending June 30, 2005, according to Lewis. Over the past 16 years, the average yearly toll is 366 moose, not counting those that are hit but not salvaged, he said.
It's a terrible hit to the moose population and to the unfortunate drivers who are often seriously injured in collisions with animals that can weigh 1,600 pounds.
If there is a silver lining, it is the salvage operation. At anywhere between 250 and 600 pounds of meat per animal, that's a lot of protein not going to waste.
"It takes an unfortunate situation and helps some good to come of it," Lewis said.
While moose are by far the most common victims of the Kenai Peninsula's roads, there are usually half a dozen or so bears that perish, as well as a handful of caribou and of course dozens of smaller mammals and birds.
The trooper program salvages black bears -- brown bear meat is generally not eaten because of its unsavory flavor -- and caribou and even fish or clams if officers seize an illegal catch, according to Lt. Steve Bear, a trooper with the state Bureau of Wildlife Enforcement.
The 40 or so charities who take part in the program include seniors and veterans groups and lots of churches, Bear said.
For Trombley, volunteering as the parish coordinator for the program is "just something I can do for the church and the people."
"I'm not that crazy about getting up in the middle of the night and getting out of my nightgown and getting dressed and going out in the cold," she said.
But she hates seeing an animal go to waste, especially when she knows there are needy families in the area who could use the help, she said.
Parishioner Peter Biegel recently received that late-night call from Trombley. He and a neighbor who is also a Perpetual Help parishioner butchered the young moose while Trombley shined a spotlight on the scene.
Biegel said he likes moose meat but that he's "old now" and hasn't been hunting in years. But he said he appreciates that the meat is being put to use and that needy people in the community receive a little help from the church.
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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