The Carcross-Tagish First Nation is looking to ramp up efforts to clear the area of left-over telegraph wire along the White Pass and Yukon Route’s railway after an incident with an injured moose last week.

Conservation officer Ken Knutson received a call last Friday night from a dog musher who had spotted the moose the previous day and noticed it was still in the same spot.

Its body was snarled in telegraph wire, with its back left foot snared and swollen, Knutson told the Star this week.

“It’s awful to see an animal wrapped in wire like that when it doesn’t need to happen,” Knutson said.

His decision to put the animal down was the right one – it would have been inhumane to leave the moose in its entrapment of wire.

It is not the first animal to meet an unlikely end because of the wire, said Natalie Leclerc, the First Nation’s natural resources manager.

“It’s apparently been going on for years,” she said in an interview this morning.

During the last week of August, Yukon Youth Conservation Corps (Y2C2) went to Carcross for a project to start removing some of the wire.

Because the wire is on White Pass’ land, the First Nation contacted the company for permission to have Y2C2 come in and start the project.

“They verbally support us going onto their land and removing it,” said Leclerc.

While it was a good start, Leclerc said, there are many areas with wire that can only be accessed with ATVs or boats – the Y2C2 crew covered the areas with easier access.

The First Nation has hired two Carcross residents to continue the work, but due to budgetary restrictions, it might not be enough to get all of the work done.

The Carcross-Tagish Renewable Resource Council provided the First Nation with some funding for the wire cleanup, but Leclerc said it was only enough for about 100 hours of work.

“There’s wire all over the place .... We need people out there working on this all day, every day to actually clean it up,” Leclerc said.

Jaime Bricker, the director of contracts and land management for White Pass, wrote in an email today that the company’s maintenance crew collects and removes wire when it’s discovered.

She added that White Pass has been “actively working” with the First Nation, Y2C2, and the renewable resource council.

“We regret this very unfortunate incident on Friday. This instance reinforces the urgency of clean-up moving forward,” Bricker said.

The First Nation hopes to work toward further funding opportunities or partnerships to get the job completed.

“It’s a matter of getting on with removing that infrastructure,” Knutson said.

“It’s time for it to go because we know it’s killing wildlife.”