‘Save pizza for the rangers,’ officials say after visitors feed moose in Colorado

If you give a moose a pizza, it can be “extremely dangerous,” a Colorado park ranger warns.

It’s unwise to feed wildlife in general, but Jefferson County Open Space ranger Ben Stanley took to Twitter Monday to inform the public that, yes, that includes pizza.

Stanley named the Italian cuisine specifically after a group of visitors were spotted sharing slices with a moose.

“Took a report of visitors trying to pet and feed a moose pizza in Clear Creek Canyon on Sunday. Please don’t approach wildlife for any reason, moose can be extremely dangerous,” the ranger tweeted on Monday, suggesting a better use for it. “Save the pizza for the Rangers.”

“Moose r not docile!” a fellow ranger tweeted with the hashtag #DontFeedWildlife. “Antlers & size make them dangerous.”

Human food isn’t good for animals. Being fed can also make them lose their natural fear of people -- and that’s hazardous for man and animal alike, according to Western Michigan University. Increased interaction means more opportunity for someone to be injured or killed, and for diseases to spread both ways.

Stanley was tipped off by other visitors that a group of a dozen at a picnic site had “crowded around a young moose,” Fox 31 reported. They were trying to touch it and give it pizza, toppings unknown, he was told.

“One person was trying to pet it. I didn’t see the pizza but I had quite a few people tell me that there was somebody trying to feed this moose some pizza,” Stanley said, according to the station.

The moose ran off into the woods and nobody was hurt, but things could have gone very differently, he said.

With more people than usual flocking to the great outdoors during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important people understand how to appreciate nature in the right way.

“From snakes all the way up to moose, just give them space. All they want to do is their animal thing,” he told the station.