Anchorage woman kicked in the head by moose while walking her dog

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Tracy Hansen and her dog Gunner take a walk along the same path three times a day, but on Feb. 16, their nightly tradition took a drastic turn.

While walking on the sidewalk of Old Seward Highway near a car dealership, a moose charged unexpectedly behind Hansen, jumping over her and kicking her in the head.

“I thought someone had not been paying attention and hit me with a bike or something,” Hansen said. “I had put my hands up to my head, and I’m like, ‘I’m bleeding.’”

It was not until she sat up that she realized that a moose that she and her dog had walked past earlier in the evening was now in front of her.

“Knowing that the moose had been somewhere behind me and now, here this moose is in front of me, and I’m like, was that the moose,” Hansen said.

Moments before Hansen was kicked in the head, Kate Timmons was driving down Old Seward Highway with her family. Timmons said that she witnessed the moose kick Timmons. Her family then quickly rushed to help, trying to divert the moose away from Hansen and her dog.

“My husband was able to pull her over the snow bank, so we could get her in the truck with her dog and kind of get her out of the way,” Timmons said. “It definitely seemed unprovoked from our standpoint and it happened so fast it was just like, a matter of getting her out of the situation, getting her help, making sure, you know my big thing was that she didn’t have a head trauma, that there wasn’t a bleed or something.”

Timmons said that she was worried about what could have happened if her family didn’t witness the accident and spring into action. Timmons noted how tall the snow banks were, which would have made it a struggle for a passing car to see Hansen laying on the sidewalk.

Hansen said that their paths crossed at precisely the right moment.

“Kate and I were discussing that the Lord put her in the right place, at the right time to be able to help,” Hansen said.

On Monday, Gunner and Hansen are back walking on the same path. Hansen said that Gunner was uninjured. Hansen is still recovering from staples in her head, headaches and bruising throughout her body, but that won’t stop their daily routine.

“We’ll be back on our normal walks,” Hansen said. “The moose won’t stop that.”

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