Allegedly, a city law exists in Fairbanks, Alaska that states that it is illegal to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose.  That law is pretty reasonable.  After all, moose are big, and wild, and strong.  While they are not normally aggressive, it is possible to provoke them into charging, which would be a really bad thing.  Odds are, if you fed one a shot of tequila or a nip of single malt scotch whiskey, you’d be dealing with one provoked moose.

While the full text of this law is not readily available, there are plenty of stories out there about drunk moose incidents.  These incidents, however, are not spawned by a human feeding booze to a moose.  Rather, fruit falls of a tree, ferments, and the moose eats the fruit.  Moose becomes drunk.  Calamity (not hilarity) ensues.

One story floating around out there takes place in Stockholm, Sweden, rather than in Alaska.  A momma moose and a baby moose ate some fermented apples out of an elderly couple’s yard.  They staggered around the yard and frightened the people who lived in the house.  The police came and scared away the drunk moose and her calf.   Everyone relaxed. Bad idea, because the drunk moose and baby drunk moose come back for more apples, because Gee, those were good.  A neighboring hunter released his dog, and scared away drunk moose et al again.  The homeowners made sure to pick up all the yummy apples so that there would be no temptation forthe  apple-seeking moose again.

Similar stories are pretty common in areas where moose are indigenous.  People report that drunk moose are a lot like drunk people.  Some get terribly aggressive and scary, some get overly friendly, and some just vomit all over the place.  Nice.

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As you’ve probably already guessed, I get a lot of these laws from websites dedicated to listing crazy and weird laws from different states and countries.  And, as you can probably imagine, there is no “truth checker” that automatically tells me whether or not the law is real.  So, that’s my new mission with this website.  I’m going to tell you the crazy law I heard about, and then I’m going to find out whether or not it is true.  Sound good to you?  I thought so.  I did it with the French pig law, the Florida parachuting law, the Arkansas light bulb law, and now I will do it for this law.

So, the Internet says that Alaskan law prohibits you from waking a sleeping bear in order to take a photo of it (but you’re allowed to shoot it with a gun if you’d like – certain restrictions apply).   Is this true?  I mean, I know it’s true that you can hunt bears in Alaska.  I mean, YOU might not be able to, and I might not be able to, but SOME people can – if they are hunting with a registered Alaska guide.  Or, you can shoot a bear if you’re an Alaska resident yourself.  See?  You didn’t know that.  I learned it from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website which was incredibly helpful and chock full of information.

For instance, did you know that Eskimo curlew, Short-tailed albatross, Humpback whale, Right whale, and Blue whale are all endangered species in Alaska?  Do you know what an Eskimo curlew is?  I didn’t either.  It’s a bird.  You’re welcome.

Also, did you know that you can bring your pet llama to Alaska with you, but that you should leave a whole host of other pets at home?  Especially your hippopotamus.  Stay tuned for a whole new post about the animals you can and cannot take into Alaska with you.

Until then, photograph all the bears you want, I suppose.  I couldn’t find anything on the website telling you not to.

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