Fact # 10

“In Fairbanks, Alaska, it’s illegal for a moose to walk on a sidewalk. It was also illegal to have an elephant anywhere in the state until 1995.”

National Geographic Kids, 5,000 Awesome Facts

It took me awhile to find out why the law was passed about having a moose walking down a sidewalk as illegal but I’ve finally was able to find an understandable reason.

After World War I this local tavern owner in Fairbanks would get his pet moose drunk at the tavern on a few occasions and it would wreak havoc in the town. A moose just by itself can be unpredictable and dangerous, but a drunken one was probably a bit worse than a normal one. Since they couldn’t keep the owner of the moose from giving his moose liquor they decided to pass a law making it illegal for a moose to be on a sidewalk. Therefore the owner of the moose had to keep the drinking at the homestead instead of inside the town. Makes sense to me. Don’t drink and Moose around.

May 28, 1995 a bill was passed by Gov. Tony Knowles stating that it was legal to own an elephant if ” the applicant intends to exhibit the animal commercially and fulfills other legal stipulations. ” It came into legislation after a carnival owner got cited for owning an elephant named Moxie and was told it was illegal to own an exotic animal. There wasn’t a whole lot of information in regards to this law so I think it was just a matter of making sure the elephant is properly being taken care of and if it is for display purposes only. I don’t know many people who would keep an elephant as a pet for any other reason so this law had to be passed. Simple as that. But it isn’t that simple I found out.

There are 3 states that it is legal to own an elephant and those are South Carolina, Nevada and Oklahoma. So if it’s a pet elephant you are looking for then it is best to move to those states and make sure there is proper amount of space, and that the owner has some training in owning an elephant.