A total of 10 vehicles were involved in collisions on the Glenn Highway before dawn Tuesday that left three moose dead but caused no serious injuries among the people involved.
The moose — a cow and two calves — were hit trying to cross the highway near Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson at about 5:50 a.m.
"The cow was struck by an inbound motorist and the two calves were struck by two different outbound motorists," police said in a statement. "All three moose died at the scene. None of the three motorists were injured."
Police spokesperson Anita Shell said it's likely drivers didn't see the moose trying to cross the highway due to the early hour and dim light.
Then a 6:45 a.m. collision, involving five vehicles but no moose, occurred inbound under the South Eagle River overpass.
"Three vehicles were disabled in the collision and one motorist was transported to a local hospital with upper body pain from the airbag deployment," police wrote. "Three drivers were cited for following too closely."
The third crash, a two-vehicle, rear-end collision inbound near the "S curves" north of the JBER exit, was reported just after 7:15 a.m.
A total of nine officers responded to the collisions, Shell said, but it wasn't clear how many people were in the vehicles or how much estimated damage the wrecks caused.
Police called on drivers to leave more space between vehicles and be aware of nearby vehicles' speed to avoid wrecks similar to the South Eagle River crash, which Shell called "a chain-reaction-type collision."
"If motorists are slowing down around you, it's probably for a reason — you want to slow down as well," Shell said. "People are clipping along that highway pretty closely."
The moose and South Eagle River collisions caused a number of lane closures, which ended by 8:30 a.m.