A young moose made national headlines last week when it wandered into the lobby of a movie theater in Kenai, Alaska. An employee captured video footage of the animal as it calmly browsed on buttered popcorn before raiding the contents of a nearby garbage bin. The footage has since gone viral on the employee’s personal TikTok page, amassing nearly 400,000 views.
A time stamp on corresponding security footage shows that the incident took place at 8:08 p.m. on April 19. There is a velvet-rope stanchion set up to usher customers into the theater. Employee Jasmynne Palmer is in the background tending the concession stand. She has a smile on her face, one phone in her hand recording the moose, and a second phone glued to her ear.
Another ear appears in the bottom corner of the camera frame. Then a face. Then a neck and a large hump before the entire moose comes into view. It negotiates the velvet rope and steps toward the concession stand. Palmer backs into the corner and continues recording. That’s when the moose turns to a counter on the right and begins snacking on some unattended popcorn.
“Oh my Gosh bro,” Palmer says to the movie-going moose. “Go outside. That’s where you belong.” Outside is indeed the proper place for a moose in Kenai. The peninsula on which the town sits is home to some 6,000 of them, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. It’s a world-renowned destination for both wildlife watchers and moose hunters alike.
In an interview with Alaska News Source (ANS), Kenai Cinemas General Manager Ricky Black, Jasmynne’s uncle, said the moose must have been tired of eating bark for the winter. “They were just letting some of the cold air in, and that’s how this happened,” Black explained. “We prop the door open quite often this time of the year because it’s just so nice outside, and you want to let some of that fresh air in.”
@brekkinsproul #kenaipeninsula #comingattractions #mcdonalds #work #moose #worldstar #kenaicinema @worldstar @mcdonalds_br @wildlife.tv @tiktoktrends #fypシ ♬ original sound – BIG DADDY B
Black—a native Arkansan who’s still new to Alaska—went on to tell the local media outlet that he thought the moose encounter “was just so awesome.”
“I would not have the same reaction to a bull moose in rut season,” he insisted. “Or a mamma moose.”
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For the duration of a 1:15 video that Palmer later shared with Storyful, the juvenile moose has a Happy Meal carton stuck to its snout and appears to be chewing. Her TikTok video shows the tense moment when it walked through the lobby doors sniffing the butter-laden air. The security footage showed the moose checking out at 8:15 p.m. without incident, the Happy Meal carton still attached to its snout.
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