A wildlife officer used a tranquillizer dart to stop a runaway moose causing chaos in a Colorado car park.

The moose was tranquilised and removed from the car park in Lionshead Village in the municipality of Vail in the US state of Colorado on 27th July.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Headquarters (CPW) started receiving calls about a moose appearing in urban areas about a month ago.

During the next month, wildlife experts kept a close eye on the moose, noticing that it kept visiting the ground level of local car parks.

The CPW presumed that the moose was attracted to the residual salt on the car parks’ walls and floors and worked with the local council to remove the salt, however, the animal continued returning to the area.

Wildlife officer Devin Duval said: “He was pretty regularly coming into the parking structure first thing in the morning and then would kind of clear out before it got too busy.

“This is the primary parking place for the folks accessing Lionshead Village as well as the Vail Health hospital.”

As the moose continued returning to the area, the CPW decided relocation was the best option.

Duval said: “Everything went smoothly this morning, no issues.”

He explained that the operation to tranquilise the moose started around 8.25am, adding: “We were definitely within that human health and safety realm where there could potentially be an injury to a human or the animal. That is the reason we decided to move it.

“This moose was not electing to spend time elsewhere, but now people can be at ease walking to work through that garage and the moose will be moved to a more appropriate habitat.”

Wildlife experts estimated that the male moose weighed around 750lbs (54 stone).

Council workers and Vail police teams helped the CPW to remove the moose from the car park.

The CPW said they moved the moose to the area of Craig, where wildlife officials want to increase the moose population.

The CPW reminded local residents to always keep a safe distance from moose and other large wild animals, and never approach them.

They added that it is also important to keep dogs on a lead when hiking through areas populated by moose.

The moose is the largest representative of the dear family, with the males having large antlers and typically they inhabit forests but are known to move into urban areas when the habitats are reduced.

Unlike deer, they tend to live solitary lives rather than moving around in herds.

They are not known to be fast-moving but can become aggressive if startled.