ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) β A large bull moose spent more than an hour stomping on the sled dog team of a rookie Iditarod musher in the wilds of Alaska last week β and the attack didn't end even after Bridgett Watkins emptied her gun into the animal.
She said on Facebook Friday that the moose, after seriously injuring four of her dogs, wouldn't leave and that the ordeal stopped only after she called friends for help and one showed up with a high powered rifle and killed the moose with one shot.
"This has been the most horrific past 24 hours of my life," she posted after the Thursday moose attack on the Salcha River trail system near Fairbanks.
But just days later, her four dogs are on the mend and she's back training with the others.
"This isn't what I was planning for, but these dogs and myself have trained for so long and so hard for this race ... when I walk back out to my dog yard and I have 12 perfectly healthy dogs out of the 16 and they look at me and all they want to do is run, how can I tell them no?" she told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "That would be selfish of me."
"These are freaking amazing athletes that just survived probably the most traumatic experience of any dog team ever in history, and they're survivors and they're still pushing through," she added.
Watkins said that the attack, first reported by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, happened while she was on a 52-mile (83.7-kilometer) training run for the nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. It starts March 5 in Anchorage.
"As he charged me I emptied my gun into him and he never stopped," she wrote on Facebook. "I ran for my life and prayed I was fast enough to not be killed in that moment. He trampled the team and then turned for us."
Watkins said she and a friend who was trailing her on a snowmobile took refuge next to the snowmobile.
The moose stopped its charge toward them about 2 feet (0.6 meters) from the snowmobile and she managed to cut free six dogs that were tied to the machine.
But the moose went back to her sled and began stomping the dogs that were still tethered to it β standing over the dogs and trampling them repeatedly for over an hour.
"I have never felt so helpless in my life," Watkins wrote. "He would not leave us alone and he even stood over top of the team refusing to retreat."
She called friends and the moose was shot and killed after one arrived with a rifle.
Alaska State Troopers had been preparing a helicopter to respond but stopped doing so after they were told the moose was dead, agency spokesperson Tim DeSpain said in an email.
Her four injured dogs were taken to a veterinarian in the nearby community of North Pole and are recovering, Watkins posted.
Watkins, a native of Arkansas who moved to Alaska when she was 5, is no stranger to mushing or its dangers. Her father and step-mother are well-known mushers Allen Moore and Aliy Zirkle.
In the 2016 Iditarod, Zirkle and four-time winner Jeff King were attacked by a man on a snowmobile near the community of Nulato. One dog on King's team was killed and two others were injured.
Another famous tale of a musher's run-in with an angry moose happened in the 1985 Iditarod β when the late Susan Butcher came across one while she was leading the race.
She used her ax and a parka to fight off the moose, but it killed two of her dogs and injured 13 others. Another musher came along and killed the moose.
She had to withdraw from the race, but later won four Iditarod races. Butcher died in 2006 from leukemia at age 51.
"It is never a musher's intention to go out and kill an animal," Watkins told the AP.
She said no musher would ever travel with a rifle or a large caliber gun, instead preferring to scare off animals with a flare gun. And with all the jostling of the sled, the larger guns could easily go off.
"People have a lot of negative comments about what I should or should not have been doing but they're not the people on the back of that sled," she said.
"It's not that I wasn't prepared. I wasn't prepared to kill a moose, that's correct," Watkins said. "It's not my intention to go around in February and hunt and kill an animal. This is like worst-case scenario defending my life."
She did carry a .380 caliber gun because there are few people where she trains, and she keeps it to to deter or scare off animals. She has since upgraded to a larger caliber firearm after it didn't stop the moose.
"That would be asinine to go back out there on the same trail, the same place, and not have a gun where I can't truly put down an animal if I have to," she said.
The experience has rattled her, but it's really no different than what other people face, she said.
"I'm just trying to face those fears every day because they're there. It's not that I'm not scared and I'm not terrified and that I don't nearly have a panic attack when I'm on the sled and I think I see a moose in front of me," she said.
"It's not that those things aren't occurring ... people have these situations in their life all the time. They're just different obstacles that they have to overcome, and this is mine, and this is my story, and I just hope that I can be inspiring."
Meat from the moose that attacked her dogs was donated to charity.
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An off-grid getaway in Alaskaβs remote Aleutian Islands
This July 7, 2021 photo shows a rope mounted cliffside at Horseshoe Bay that assists climbers to descend to the shore and nearby hot springs below on Adak Island, Alaska. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
PLAN YOUR ADVENTURE
βBefore you go: Visit Alaskaβs COVID-19 information site for the latest pandemic information and travel restrictions.
βWhere to stay: There are a few no-frills accommodations in old military housing ($150 night), including the Adak/Aleutian Experience and Adak Lodge and Outfitters, which offer hunting trips. Both also rent trucks for $150-$200 a day -- a must-have for backcountry exploration.
βFood: Dining and grocery options are limited and often closed. Bring a cooler of food as one of your three allowed checked bags to fuel your expedition.
βWi-Fi: With limited cell service and achingly slow satellite-based Wi-Fi, take this opportunity to truly unplug.
βPermits: Youβll need a land use permit from the Aleut Corporation to hunt or hike on Adak. Pick one up for $30 when you arrive at the airport.
βGetting around: Grab an Adak map at the airport and download offline maps before you go. The Adak historical guide is also a great resource. Avoid the well-signed landfill sites and area to the north, known as Parcel 4, due to unexploded ordnance.
Drive carefully. As our host liked to remind us, βOn Adak, not all roads are roads.β
MORE IMAGES OF ADAK
This photograph taken July 8, 2021, shows a Cold War-era bunker, one of many that dot hillsides across Adak Island, Alaska. Visitors to the remote island can explore the decaying relics along with dozens of military facilities left behind by the U.S Navy, who decommissioned Adakβs base in 1997. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This aerial photograph shows the mostly abandoned neighborhoods of Adak, Alaska, on July 7, 2021. Most homes have fallen into disrepair since the U.S Navy left the remote island in 1997. A few units have been maintained for Adakβs small community and occasional tourists. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This July 8, 2021, photograph shows a hiker en route to Lake Bonnie Rose, one of many scenic hiking options on Adak Island, Alaska. Alaska Airlines offers two flights a week to the far-flung Aleutian Island located about 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This photograph taken July 9, 2021, shows a sign warning of danger at a landfill site on Adak Island, Alaska. Although it is easy to get swept up in the natural beauty of the island, it is important to remember its military past which has left some areas unsafe to explore. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This photograph taken July 8, 2021, shows two eagles perched atop a wildlife viewing platform with the Great Sitkin Volcano in the distance. The island attracts adventurous bird watchers from around the globe. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This row of abandoned buildings, once used as officersβ quarters, appear on July 9, 2021, in Adak Island, Alaska. Adventurous visitors can tour dozens of Cold War-era facilities that have been vandalized and fallen into disrepair since the U.S. Navy left the remote island in 1997. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This photograph taken July 8, 2021, shows Clam Lagoon, located on the northeast side of Adak Island, Alaska, and the Great Sitkin Volcano in the distance. The lagoonβs sprawling mudflats attract adventurous bird watchers from around the globe. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
Harbor seals sunbathe in Clam Lagoon in this July 10, 2021, photograph on Adak Island, Alaska. The lagoon is also teeming with sea otters, sea lions and a variety of birds. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This aerial photograph taken July 7, 2021, shows picturesque hiking spot, Horseshoe Bay, and the decaying LORAN station, a Cold War-era navigation facility, on Adak Island, Alaska. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This photograph taken July 9, 2021, shows a hallway in abandoned military barracks on Adak Island, Alaska. Curious tourists can play archaeologists and traipse through dark tunnels and decaying rooms in dozens of Cold War-era facilities that have fallen into disrepair since the U.S Navy left the remote island in 1997. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This July 7, 2021, photograph shows the grassy terrain of Adak Island, Alaska and the Great Sitkin Volcano in the distance. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This aerial photograph taken July 8, 2021, shows the craggy mountain landscape of Adak Island, Alaska, and its small, nearly abandoned town in the distance. Alaska Airlines offers two flights a week to the far-flung Aleutian Island located about 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This July 7, 2021, photograph shows rusting diesel generators that used to power to the LORAN (long range navigation) station on Adak Island, Alaska. Now curious tourists come to explore dozens of decaying historical sites and defunct military facilities and piece together their stories through the few artifacts that remain. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This photograph taken July 7, 2021, shows abandoned homes that have fallen into disrepair since the U.S Navy left the remote island in 1997. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
Broken furniture and smashed windows is all that remains in most of the abandoned military facilities throughout Adak Island, Alaska. Curious tourists can play archaeologists and traipse through dark tunnels and decaying rooms in dozens of Cold War-era facilities that have fallen into disrepair since the U.S Navy left the remote island in 1997. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
This July 9, 2021, photograph shows what remains of a classroom on the decommissioned military base in Adak Island, Alaska. Adventurous tourists come to the remote locale to hunt, spot birds and explore dozens of Cold War-era facilities that have fallen into disrepair since the U.S Navy left in 1997. (Nicole Evatt via AP)
