COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Lenora Johnson opened her front door Friday morning to find a moose walking toward her home.

"I started walking out my front door," the Cottonwood Heights resident said, "and I didn't even get to my driveway, and the moose just started walking right down the street. And it started coming up the driveway and right toward me.

Johnson retreated back into her house, but she filmed the moose as it approached her window. She said the moose was roughly the same height she is, 5 feet 7 inches tall.

The moose got so close that it left nose prints on a window of the home, Johnson said.

"It went right up to the window," she said. "I thought, 'You know, these guys can be mean,' so I thought I had better get out of the way."

Though she avoided contact with the moose, Johnson said the animal appeared docile as it explored her front yard. Eventually, the moose headed down the street and into a ravine.

That's when animal control officers stepped in to end the moose's neighborhood stroll. The animal was tranquilized while in the backyard of a home and then ran into the ravine. Animal control officers later reversed the action after realizing they wouldn't be able to haul the animal up the steep slope.

"When they got down there, they gave it a reverse injection of the tranquilizer and let it come to its senses a little bit," said Tony Kassapakis, a Cottonwood Heights animal control officer.

Kassapakis said officers let the moose wander off down the ravine. They're hoping it makes it back into the mountains and doesn't stop to visit any more neighborhoods along the way.

Contributing: Peter Samore

Twitter: @FinleyJY