Austrians Obsessed With The Adventures Of Emil The Moose

For weeks, sightings of the immigrant animal have been keeping an area of the country near Vienna on its toes.

VIENNA (AP) — For weeks, sightings of a rare immigrant have been keeping a corner of Austria on its toes.

A moose that has come to be known as Emil appeared nearly three weeks ago in Lower Austria, a province in the country’s northeast that surrounds Vienna, and it doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave. Sightings of the animal have drawn curious onlookers, and by Monday a Facebook fan page for him had 10,000 members.

It’s been an eventful few days for Emil. The moose showed up late last week in a suburb of the provincial capital, St. Pölten. On Saturday evening, he found his way onto the tracks at its main railway station — prompting a several-hour closure of the Vienna-Salzburg main line, which passes through the city.

Moose aren’t native to Austria. Emil is believed to have come from Poland via the Czech Republic, Austria’s northern neighbor.

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