"In Alaska it is illegal to look at a moose from an aeroplane" wtf?

So, in the UK, Mercedes has been running a series of similar radio adverts. The idea is that a guy asks “Which of the following statements are untrue?”, then reads out a seies of statements that at first glance might seem strange. Some examples are that the novel Gadsby has 50000 words but no letter e or there are more stars in the Milky Way than grains of sand on Earth. One statement will always be “You can afford a Mercedes”; the tag being all the statements are true, the Mercedes one just sounds far fetched.

None of the 'far-fetched’statements actually seem unreasonable apart from ‘In Alaska it is illegal to look at a moose from an aeroplane’ Does anybody know anything about this? Is it true, if so what’s the rationale and how stiff a punishment might it warrant?

‘Gadsby is a novel by Ernest Vincent Wright, written around 1939. It is famous for not containing the letter ‘e’.’

'That is more than the total number of grains of sand in all the Earth’s beaches and deserts. But that is only the stars in the visible Universe within range of our telescopes. ’

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3085885.stm

Now onto strange laws:

Apparently (no cites are given!):

In Texas, it’s against the law for anyone to have a pair of pliers in his or her possession.

In Philadelphia, you can’t put pretzels in bags based on an Act of 1760.

Alaska law says that you can’t look at a moose from an airplane.

In Corpus Christie, Texas, it is illegal to raise alligators in your home.

In Miami, it is forbidden to imitate an animal.

It is against the law to mispronounce the name of the State of Arkansas in that State.

In Kentucky, it’s the law that a person must take a bath once a year.

In Providence, Rhode Island, it is against the law to jump off a bridge.

In the State of Kansas, you’re not allowed to drive a buffalo through a street.

In New Jersey, cabbage can’t be sold on Sunday.

:rolleyes:

Just to clarify, I wasn’t doubting the Gadsby or the Milky way, I just included it as background to show what the adverts were like…

No, no, no. There’s a huge (HUGE) difference between Milky Way galaxy and the whole visible universe that contains more galaxies than just our own one. Many more. (And like already said the visible universe is of course only the small part of the universe from which light has had time to reach us). There are more stars in visible universe than there are grains of sand on Earth’s surface. But there are way less stars in our tiny galaxy, just about 200 000 million or so. Mind the distinction.

On laws: just because a law sounds silly, is listed on dumblaws or some such site, and no citation is given, does not necessarily mean it’s (entirely) false. For example on mispronouncing the name of Arkansas in said state: just look up Arkansas Code, Title 1, Chapter 4, Section 105 and there you have it. However, in that law the pronunciation is determined for use in oral official proceedings, it doesn’t appear to be against the law to mispronounce it in a casual conversation with local Ar-kan-saw-ites.

That said, I find it hard to believe that Alaska law would prohibit just looking at mooses from airplanes. However, it’s of course very probable that it prohibits shooting mooses from airplanes; maybe there’s some silly sounding statutes related to that?

From a cursory search of theAlaska Statutes, I can find nothing remotely similar to this law. Knock yourself out if you want to have a crack at it.

A lot of these supposed “dumb laws” are urban legends, or just ridiculous interpretations of perfectly normal laws.

For example, suppose the City of Friedoville has an ordinance that says you get a ticket if you tie up a pet to a city parking meter.

“In Friedoville, it’s illegal to tie an giraffe to a parking meter with fishing line!”

OK, it’s technically true, but pretty stupid.

Alot of the entries on those “dumb laws” lists are really just silly examples of perfectly sensible laws. For example, if the list says “In Hickville, Arkansas it is illegal to tie an alligator to a fire hydrant on Sundays,” the reality is that Hickville probably has a law saying that you cannot tie an animal (any animal) to a fire hydrant. Yes, tying an alligator to one on Sunday breaks the law, but tying your dog to one on Tuesday is equally illegal.

Just a minor nitpick, it is illegal in Texas to have wirecutters in your possession, not pliers. This dates from the early frontier/ranching days where rustlers would cut through barbed wire fences to steal cattle.

There are 10,000 sites that say this is true and lists it as a “strange fact”.

[Speculation]
In Alaska, like in many states, it is illegal to hunt (most) animals from an airplane.

Alaska takes this further and says that it is illegal, with with some exceptions, , to fly and shoot big game on the same day in Alaska. Why. My WAG is that some confabulation of this no-fly law is, or that a misguided attempt/or wording of this law, leads to “It is illegal to look at Moose from Airplanes” but I am not claiming to have the GQ answer on this.[/speculation]

It is also possible that there is a law on the books in Alaska that prohibits herding moose by plane, or harrassing them, or something like that, designed to prevent people from buzzing herds looking for a good photo op.

I’d guess it has something to do with harassing the Moose population. You get a bunch of tourists and some charter planes that like to fly over nice and close to the moose for some good photos and the moose get spooked.

It is likely part of the hunting regulations. Big game is MUCH easier to spot from the air. An airborn spotter could easilly guide ground based hunters to the game. In fact it would be helpful to look from the air, land, and go hunt in the area where you had seen the game. I know there are regulations in New Mexico and Colorado (two states where I have lived and hunted) that state a timeframe you are not even alowed to ariel pre-scout the area you’ll later hunt. I forget exactly what it is, but the one time I had a chance to do such, we looked it up to make sure we complied.

These regulations are typically spelled out in a proclamation issued by the state wildelife agency each year.

It is likely part of the hunting regulations. Big game is MUCH easier to spot from the air. An airborn spotter could easilly guide ground based hunters to the game. In fact it would be helpful to look from the air, land, and go hunt in the area where you had seen the game. I know there are regulations in New Mexico and Colorado (two states where I have lived and hunted) that state a timeframe (days) you are not allowed to ariel pre-scout the area you’ll later hunt. I forget exactly what it is, but the one time I had a chance to do such, we looked it up to make sure we complied.

These regulations are typically spelled out in a proclamation issued by the state wildelife agency each year.

So if the regulation prohibits spotting big game for hunters from any aircraft, this can be twisted to “illeagle to look at a moose from a helicopter”.

I’d say that’s likely… when I went whale watching in Alaska they had a similar wildlife protection law that they couldn’t watch a single whale for more than a half hour (at least that’s what the tour operator said). So I could see them doing similar things for other animals to avoid disturbing them.

There is a good reason not to spook moose. They live on the knifes edge between starvation and survival because the area they live in has very little food. There food reserves are so low that each time they must run away from something, their energy stores get depleted a little more. Over the course of a winter, it is vital that they do not waste energy. A few tourist planes might seem harmless but it would definitely push some moose over the edge and they would die of starvation.
I learned this from CBC’s Quirks and Quarks. The context was banning snowmobiles from some backwoods trails in Newfoundland. Of course, the snowmobilers won’t stand for it but they need to understand that their seeming harmless actions can have ecological consequences.

I don’t think Friedoville is my kind of town.

There are flight height restrictions over almost all wildlife reserves.

The pdf of the Alaska big game hunting regulations says this:Same day airborne: It is against the law to hunt or help someone else take big game until 3:00 am the day following the day you have flown. This does not apply if you have flown on a regularly scheduled commercial or commuter airplane.

You may hunt deer the same day airborne. You may hunt caribou the same day you have flown (provided you are 300 feet from the airplane) . . .Communication equipment may not be used in the taking of game, or to aid in the taking of game.

You may not take game by:

Driving, herding, harassing, or molesting game with any motorized vehicle such as an aircraft, snowmachine, motor boat, etc. (Some exceptions are noted)

Using a helicopter for hunting or transporting hunters, hunting gear, game meat, trophies, or any equipment used to pursue or retrieve game EXCEPT helicopter use may be authorized to rescue hunters, gear, or game in a life-threatening situation.
(emphasis in original)