Some folks just aren’t happy unless they have something to complain about. We’ve all heard about the Portland police shooting a moose in Back Cove. I find it inconceivable that there are still people complaining about the department’s decision to shoot the animal.

Roughly 150 spectators gathered to within 10 yards of a 900- to 1,000-pound animal, full of testosterone (or the moose equivalent) and completely out of its own environment. That’s an accident just waiting to happen.

The chief complaint of all the city folk who wanted a less violent ending was that the moose should have been tranquilized and pulled from the Cove. Perhaps the Portland people suffer from a lack of common sense?

Knowing that a tranquilizer doesn’t work instantly, who would want to subject themselves and their family to be anywhere near an angry, scared, 900-pound wild animal that’s just been shot with a dart?

In the unlikely case that the animal didn’t just bolt and trample the crowd, how is anyone going to tie a rope around it and drag it out of the Cove without either injuring it or themselves?

The crowd didn’t disperse as the police asked. Those who stayed to watch the sad ending did so of their own accord. The Portland police were in a no-win situation, and did the proper thing. They protected the very same people who are now criticizing them.

Jeff Johnson, Lewiston