Family says Alaska photographer killed in moose attack knew the risks and died doing what he loved

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The family of an Alaska man who was fatally attacked by an angry moose trying to protect his newborn twin calves said he was a wildlife photographer who knew the risks of photographing in the wild and what it was he loved died.

Although there have been some calls to kill the moose, Dale Chorman’s family does not want the animal euthanized as they only wanted to protect their calves.

Chorman, 70, and a friend were trying to find the moose and calves to photograph them Sunday when the moose burst out of the brush, said Chorman’s friend Tom Kizzia, an author and journalist from Homer, Alaska.

“They both turned to run away and the friend turned around and saw Dale on the ground with the moose standing over him,” Kizzia told The Associated Press by telephone.

“There was no obvious trampling, and later when they recovered his body they saw no signs of trauma,” he said. “I think the medical examiner will try to figure out exactly what happened, whether it was just a single blow in the horribly wrong place or something like that.”

The friend sought help, and when the paramedics arrived, Kizzia said the moose had already disappeared back into the forest.

Chorman’s son Nate Spence-Chorman posted on social media that Dale was “a loving husband to Dianne, a great father to me and (as you know) a fantastic friend to many.”

The fatal attack occurred on Chorman’s three-acre property east of Homer, where moose give birth each spring in a dense alder and elder forest.

Chorman was a builder and carpenter by trade, but also loved being around wildlife. He was a naturalist, an avid bird watcher and a wildlife guide who loved sharing his photos.

“This wasn’t an unfortunate idiot stumbling into danger – this was a person who went looking for a great photo, knew the risks and walked into a dangerous moment,” his son wrote.

The moose should not be killed, Spence-Chorman wrote. “The mother ungulate does not have to die. She was just protecting her offspring.”

Although the death was tragic, Spence-Chorman said his father would have accepted that outcome.

“The truth is, he died doing the job he loved,” he wrote.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game typically receives reports of aggressive or unusual moose behavior, said Cyndi Wardlow, a regional manager for the Department of Wildlife Conservation.

“In this case, we are obviously very concerned about public safety,” she said.

“If there was an animal that was behaving in a way that continued to pose a threat to public safety, then we could potentially euthanize the animal, but we don’t specifically pursue that route,” she said.

Wardlow urged everyone, including the many summer tourists just arriving in Alaska, to pay attention to wildlife and be aware of their surroundings.

In the case of moose, the largest members of the deer family, small adult females can weigh up to 800 pounds, while males weigh twice that. They can also reach a shoulder height of up to 6 feet.

It is estimated that there are up to 200,000 moose in Alaska.

This is the second fatal moose attack in Alaska in the last three decades.

In 1995, a moose stomped a 71-year-old man to death as he tried to enter a building on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus. Witnesses said the students threw snowballs and harassed the moose and its calf for hours, and the animals became agitated when the man tried to walk past them.

Dale Chorman grew up in Painesville, Ohio, but hitchhiked to Alaska in the 1980s, his son said in an email to the AP. He traveled widely, spending time in America, Europe and Asia and visiting Antarctica.

He met his wife, Dianne, when she came to Alaska to watch bears, and he guided at a nearby river cabin.

Chorman’s professional work as a tour guide focused primarily on photographing brown bears, but his passion was all wildlife, especially birds, his son said. He could identify many species of birds by their calls alone and sometimes taught “birding by ear” classes in Homer.

Homer is located on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, about 220 miles south of Anchorage.