Sister hits moose on way to visit sister who hit moose

One woman in 100 Mile House hospital, the other recovering in Vancouver

By Laura Baziuk, The Province June 22, 2010

A pair of Kitimat sisters have had their fill of close encounters with moose on the loose.

A month ago, Yvonne Studley, 49, was badly injured when she hit a moose with her vehicle, so last Friday her sister decided to visit her in Vancouver General Hospital.

But sister Connie Everitt, 51, fared little better — she also hit a moose and ended up in hospital.

In the first accident a month ago, Studley was on her way home from a business trip when a moose ran in front of her car.

The animal went through the windshield and landed on her, inflicting a broken wrist, arm and hand, five fractured ribs and bleeding in her brain.

The pregnant moose died near the collision.

The calf did not survive.

When Studley came out of her coma, her sister Connie Everitt and her husband Steve decided to visit her.

She and her husband were in two cars last Friday afternoon. Everitt, in the first car, was going around a corner near 70 Mile House when she saw "a brown blur."

"I knew right away it was a moose," she said. "I slammed on the brakes with both my feet.

"It was like two explosions. [The moose] came through the windshield on the passenger side, and then the body flipped around and the shoulder came into the side window."

She was taken to the hospital at 100 Mile House with mostly soft-tissue injuries.

The coincidence of hitting a moose just like her sister "really threw me for a loop."

"My first thought was, 'Are the moose going out [on a] hunting season for my family?"' Everitt said. "So far, we win three because we got three of them dead."

Moose are involved in about eight per cent of all wildlife vehicle collisions, according to the Wildlife Collision Prevention Program's website.

"Moose will often try to avoid vehicles by running along a highway," added Jeff Knight, spokesman for B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation.

"If it's safe to do so, it's best to pull over or slow down until the animal leaves the road."

Everitt was released from hospital Saturday, and Monday visited her sister, who she said was getting better.

"You can never tell when a moose or some other wildlife will run out in front of you," she said. "My sister almost died from this. If I'd had anyone as my passenger, they would have died."

From: http://www.theprovince.com/Sister+hits+moose+visit+sister+moose/3184606/story.html