'Legitimate safety concerns': Police unapologetic for closing streets before Banjo Bowl

Winnipeg police say while they received few complaints inside IGF Saturday, they did deal with "unsupportive" Bomber fans outside the stadium.

Const. Rob Carver said Saturday's Banjo Bowl hadone of the most "well-behaved group of fans"in recent memory, but they struggled to make sure people were safe beforehand when a wandering moose was spotted in the area.

Carver said police decided to close Chancellor MathesonRoad despite the fact 33,000 Bomber fans were converging on the area.

"We couldn't let people near the animal. This was a possibly over 700-pound animal," said Carver.

"We don't take these decisions lightly to block roads or move people from an area, especially in light of the start of one of the biggest sporting events we're going to see this fall here. But our overriding concern is always for the safety of the people in the area. We had legitimate safety concerns here.

"We did have some fans who potentially, they didn't understand what was going on who were not overly supportive of what the officers were doing."

While the game was only delayed by a few minutes, traffic getting to the game was backed up for an hour after kickoff. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers delayed a promotional 360-degree photograph that was meant to be taken before the game until half-time in an effort to capture as many fans as possible.

The moose was shot twice with a tranquillizer gun, then given another dose when Manitoba Conservation officers were able to get closer to the animal, Carversaid.

"Our officers were prepared, at the scene, to put the animal down that was the worst-case scenario, we didn't have to go there, but officers were prepared to put the animal down if it needed to go that direction."

Police and officers managed to borrow a trailer from nearby and drive the moose to a wilderness area north of the city, said Carver.

Carver addedhe hoped to remind people of the role police play in public safety.

"If we hadn't been able to resolve it, at the time, [the game] might have been delayed longer ... This resolved itself without any injury to the public and the animal was safelytranquillizedand removed from the area. I think that's the outcome everyone wants. It's just a little frustrating when we hear people weren't supportive of that."

A moose making its way into Winnipeg city limits is unheard of, said Carver, adding conservation officers didn't remember it ever happening during their careers.