Moose spotted near Ski Santa Fe

It was a sight so rare it might have been historic: a moose — yes, a moose — skipping along Hyde Park Road toward the Ski Santa Fe parking lot on Sunday afternoon.

A video captured by a Santa Fe family heading home after a ski trip shows what could be a 1,000-pound animal moving in sync with the holiday song "Let It Snow," playing on their car radio when the beast trotted by.

"That thing'll kill you," driver Adam Ronan says in the video as the moose passes his car.

"We couldn't believe it," added his wife, Theresa Ronan, who sent the video clip to The Santa Fe New Mexican. "We didn't think there should be moose in New Mexico."

The sight delighted the couple and their two young sons, Omar and Teddy.

Moose sightings remain a rarity in the state, with only about a half-dozen in the past decade. In October and November, however, several people reported seeing a bull moose in areas of Taos and Mora counties.

Could it be the same moose that visited the mountains northeast of Santa Fe?

Perhaps.

"It may not be outside the realm of possibility it is the same one," said Darren Vaughan, a spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. The moose spotted in Mora in November has been tracked moving "gradually south."

The Ski Santa Fe moose encounter could be historic, Vaughan added: His department has never recorded a sighting of a moose as far south as Santa Fe.

After viewing the footage of the moose, Vaughan said, "That's pretty spectacular."

When Ski Santa Fe mountain manager Jack Dant saw the video, he said, "My jaw hit the floor."

"I have never in a lifetime of skiing up here and 21 years of working up here seen or heard of a moose," he said.

"He looks stressed; he looks scared, and I think he's probably headed for the woods," Dant said of the animal.

Moose are found in the northern regions of the United States, from Maine to Washington, throughout Canada and into Alaska. They were introduced to Southern Colorado in 1978, according to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website.

Vaughan said moose that move south from Colorado are usually younger males looking for a new habitat or breeding opportunities.

"That's not to say we haven't seen females," Vaughan said. "It's definitely more males than females."

Adam Ronan said he and his wife first spotted the moose around 2 p.m. Sunday, coming up the road to the ski basin from a distance of about a quarter-mile. He estimated the animal was moving about 25 mph.

"I was amazed at how fast he was moving," Ronan said.

As the moose approached, Ronan thought to himself, "Please don't run on top of our car."

Omar and Teddy, who enjoy watching animal shows on television, "weren't afraid at all. I think they got a kick out of it," Ronan said.

He had assumed someone else would have spotted the moose when it got to the ski basin parking lot and that there would be many photos and videos of the moose on social media sites Monday.

He didn't find any.

"With all those people around, it probably hid," he said.

Vaughan said that was probably best for both the moose and any people who were nearby.

Though moose are not a threat to the general public, he said, "they can be dangerous, and if you can avoid approaching them, you should."