The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is stepping up its moose research to try to determine what is killing northern Minnesota’s largest herbivore. Moose have been tracked by air in the past and a few have been radio-collared, however the new program will fit 150 moose in Cook and Lake counties with monitoring devices. Photo courtesy of Mike Schrage – Minnesota DNR
Minnesota Department of Natural Resource workers plan to fit 150 moose in Cook and Lake counties with GPS collars this winter and spring so that researchers can track their movements and study them in a further effort to determine what is killing northern Minnesota’s largest herbivore.
The moose will be spotted by air and darted by researchers. Once asleep, they will be collared. The plan is to collar 25 bulls and 75 cows, with 27 of those moose outfitted with a second device that will be implanted in their digestive tracts that will record heartbeat and internal body temperature.
Each collared moose will be tracked for six years. The GPS collars will record six locations per day per moose along with the ambient air temperature. The information will be sent to researchers daily.
In the spring, once moose cows have had their babies, 50 newborns will be caught and radio collared. Researchers are hoping this data—similar to what is recorded for adults— will give a clearer picture about mortality for baby moose and what may be killing them.
Ten years ago the DNR estimated that 8,500 moose lived in northeastern Minnesota. In 2011 the estimate was 5,200 and in 2012 the count dropped to 4,200. In northwest Minnesota there are fewer than 250 moose.
Although the DNR and other researchers have been spending a great deal of effort and time trying to figure out what is killing these majestic creatures, no clear picture has yet emerged. Erika Butler, D.V.M., the DNR’s chief wildlife veterinarian, hopes this new study will shed further light on the plight of the moose.
“We are gearing up for a massive capture effort,” said Butler.
Should one of the moose go down and not move for six hours, researchers will be notified via texts to the researcher every 30 minutes for the next six hours. A moose that hasn’t moved for this length of time will be presumed dead, and speed is of the essence in finding the downed animal.
“We will make every effort we can to get the entire carcass of the moose out of the woods and down to the lab within 24 hours of death,” said Butler.
“If carcass extraction isn’t possible, we will be performing a complete field necropsy (collecting everything from the brain, liver, eyes, intestines, etc., to the pituitary gland, adrenal glands, cerebral spinal fluids, etc.) and will then bring the samples to the lab within 24 hours.”
Speed is essential because once a moose dies its organs disintegrate very fast, said Butler. As far as anyone can determine, this is the first time anywhere that a study of this magnitude and detail will be conducted on moose, said Butler.
So far scientists have several theories about what is killing moose. Some of those theories include changing climate, change in habitat, predation by wolves and bear, parasites carried by deer, and disease spread by ticks and mosquitoes.
Partnering with the DNR on this study are the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 1854 Treaty Authority (a natural resources management agency that represents Grand Portage and Boise Forte bands), the University of Minnesota- Duluth; and the University of Minnesota’s veterinary and wildlife departments.
The study will cost $1.2 million and is being paid for by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.
Last summer DNR workers trapped about 35,000 mosquitoes that are being studied at the University of Minnesota for diseases that could hurt or kill moose.
“So far we have identified 30 species of mosquitoes and the total tally of skeets so far is 35,000. We are still not done identifying/counting them all so we have not submitted them for screening yet,” Butler said.
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