Woman in Colorado tries to pet a moose, nearly gets attacked

Woman narrowly misses getting trampled by moose

Watch: One woman is lucky to be alive after escaping an aggressive moose.

This was too close of an encounter.

A woman in Colorado made the mistake of trying to pet a moose as it wandered through downtown Breckenridge last week, nearly getting attacked in the process.

Video posted to Instagram shows the woman approaching the moose on Thursday and when she got too close to petting it, the animal lifted it's hooves and stomped toward her.

"That girl's an idiot," one person can be heard saying in the video. "You're an idiot."

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Anna Stonehouse, who filmed the video, told FOX31 she gasped when she spotted the woman walking close to the moose, saying the scene was "horrifying" and the woman was following the animal "aggressively across the street."

“I thought it was pretty shocking and everyone else around did, too,” she told FOX31. “We all wanted to keep our distance and get away and let the moose do its thing. To see someone act that way, it seemed very childish and inappropriate and ignorant."

The Breckenridge Police Department shared on Facebook that the woman in the video has been identified and information has been shared with Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

CPW officials told FOX31 the woman has been cited for harassment of wildlife, which carries a fine of up to $200.

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Travis Duncan with Colorado Parks and Wildlife said moose can be both territorial and aggressive but say the signs are often subtle to the untrained eye.

“Moose can weigh up to 1,000 pounds,” Duncan told FOX31. “They’re deceptively fast. This person is lucky they weren’t injured because this could have been catastrophic.”

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The Breckenridge Police Department said as snow piles up in winter, wildlife encounters are common as animals go where their food is more accessible and "may be more prevalent in town."

In the last month, police said they were dispatched to 34 wildlife-related calls for service, 90 percent of those involving moose.

Wildlife officials recommend people use what’s called the “rule of thumb" if they encounter animals in the winter.

“If you hold your hand out at arm’s length, and you can cover that animal with your thumb, then you’re at a good distance," Duncan told FOX31. "If you can’t, then you need to back up and give that animal space."

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