State police shot the severely injured bull moose when it was unable to get up, according to authorities.
Wendy Rosenbach, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said, "The vehicle that struck the moose did not stop and has not reported the incident. A DEC Environmental Conservation Officer responded and with the help of NYS Department of Transportation loaded the moose on to his pickup truck."
"The ECO transported the moose to the Hunters Helping the Hungry program which is operated by the Conservation Awareness Foundation of the Federation of Dutchess County Fish and Game Clubs," Rosenbach said. "The useable meat will be processed and distributed to needy families in the lower Hudson Valley."
The moose's head will be transported to DEC’s Wildife Pathology lab for testing, she added.
More details on the Hunters Helping the Hungry program can be found by clicking here.
The moose that was severely injured by an unknown motorist at about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, state police from the Cortlandt barracks said. The injured moose was found by police on the grass shoulder of Route 9 about one mile south of the Welcher Avenue exit in the Town of Cortlandt.
Police have not located the vehicle that struck the moose, Trooper Melissa McMorris, spokeswoman for Troop K of the state police, said.
The moose, believed to be the same one sighted throughout Northern Westchester since June, was about 7-feet tall and weighed more than 800 pounds.
A young male moose was previously spotted near woods along the eastbound lanes of Bear Mountain Parkway in Cortlandt on Sunday, July 10. Earlier moose sightings were reported in Bedford, Millwood and Ossining.
The moose in all the recent sightings had small antlers, typical of a young bull moose, which are solitary animals and do not form herds.
Moose sightings are extremely rare in southern New York. There are an estimated 800 moose in the entire state, with most living near the Canadian and Vermont borders.
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