Night driver hits ‘immovable object’ — a large moose — on Iron Range highway

A car and a moose collided after dark on the Iron Range, and the outcome on each side of that encounter was very different.

The incident occurred around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday on northbound Hwy. 53 near Virginia, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said.

The driver of the car escaped with minor injuries, while the vehicle suffered significant front-end damage, the Sheriff’s Office said.

As for the fate of the animal, the Sheriff’s Office reported that “sadly, the moose did not survive.”The State Patrol identified the driver as 19-year-old Ava Knutsen, of nearby Britt.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Nate Skelton said Wednesday that Knutsen “was trapped but got out on their own.”

The moose was collected by the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for its next stop, a food bank, Skelton said.

Skelton said vehicles hitting moose is “a fairly common” occurrence in his county, “but not as often as deer hits, mind you. I’d just as soon hit a deer as a moose. They are pretty much an immovable object.”

Whether it’s a moose, a deer or other wildlife in the way, “you don’t want to take evasive action. Best thing you can do is slow down. ... Don’t swerve and miss. Just hit them,” he said.

The moose is Minnesota’s largest wild animal, according to the DNR. They average 950 to 1,000 pounds and sometimes exceed 1,200, the agency said.

A DNR survey conducted last year estimated that moose in Minnesota, which are largely found in the northwest and northeast sections of the state, total 3,470.