Atka, a beloved six-year-old, seven-toed moose, is showing his dedicated keeper team that it is time for more support. His team is planning an immobilization in the coming days.
In 2023, Atka had surgery to remove a toe with progressive bone degradation from his front left foot. That amputation stopped bone degradation and saved his leg, and his life.
Moose walk on their toes. Their massive body weight, normally situated squarely above four feet, with two toes on each foot, is distributed evenly between those toes. When one toe is missing, the other toe plays double duty.
Since the surgery, three-and-a-half years ago, Atka has been living well on seven toes. At times, his gait has been abnormal, due to him shifting his leg inwards to help support his weight. This was not a surprise; when his team made the decision to remove the toe to save his leg, they knew it would not be the end of the issue. Recently, as a full-grown moose weighing 1,300 pounds with a full set of antlers, his team is also tracking issues with his remaining toe.
Atka’s team is focused on giving him his best quality of life. They track his mobility, using indicators that allow them to objectively consider data when making decisions for him. Lately, they’re more frequently seeing Atka shifting weight off of his front left foot and lying down.
“This moose is a beloved member of our Zoo family, and we’re going to explore every possible option of care for him while balancing a good quality of life,” Rebecca Zwicker, animal curator at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, says. Rebecca has worked in Rocky Mountain Wild for sixteen years. She worked with the Zoo’s former moose, Tahoma, until his passing at thirteen years of age, and she welcomed Atka as an orphaned calf in 2020.
“At this point, we know this is not an issue we’re going to be able to fix for him forever,” Rebecca says. “But we’re looking at options to give him every possible comfortable day we can, and we’re calling in industry experts to help us.”
Through his impressive cooperative husbandry training, Atka allows his care team to trim, shape, and inspect his hooves. A recent session revealed a crack in the softer, inside part of his hoof. The crack is healing with new hoof growth, but, without some adjustments, it will likely continue to reappear and cause long-term issues.
After consulting with hoof experts from the Zoo’s International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and Zoo Hoofstock Trim Program, the team has decided to immobilize Atka at the end of August to treat him.
The teams are looking at several potential options, including pain management, trimming his toe to adjust where his weight lands on it, and adhering a rubber-covered aluminum plate that could help him with better weight distribution.
“Moose are rare in zoos, and Atka is the only moose we know of who has had a toe amputated,” Diana Miller, hoof care expert at the Giraffe Center at CMZoo, says. “We’re relying on what we know from hoofstock experts. They tell us that his ability to live well for more than three years without this toe is a testament to the quality of his care and the success of the amputation. We’re focused on extending his bonus years even more.”
CMZoo will provide updates on Atka’s progress as needed.