At first glance the 2014 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) estimated moose count of 4,350 for Northeastern Minnesota seems to offer some good news for a species that had been dying at an alarming rate. Last year the DNR estimated 2,760 moose, so it would seem at face value to suggest a significant jump in the population.
Not so fast, says Lou Cornicelli, wildlife research manager for the DNR. Cornicelli said the new number is very close to the 2012 aerial survey count of 4,230, and the count for 2013 was probably low, as moose were harder to spot that year because of snow conditions.
With that, the DNR and other agencies will continue the various studies into what has caused the moose numbers to drop from 8,840 in 2006 to the present number.
Wildlife researchers are following over 100 adult moose and eight yearlings via GPS radio collars. Originally 50 calves were collared last spring, but more than 70 percent have died, and of the 111 adults collared in 2013, 22 have perished.
The DNR is also conducting mosquito, flea and tick studies to see if they are contributing to the deaths, and researchers are also looking at food supply, predation, and global warming as other culprits in the demise of Minnesota’s moose.
Although the numbers of deaths seem to have plateaued the last three years, Cornicelli believes the long-term trend indicates that more moose will die in disproportionate numbers in the future. And the future of moose in Northeastern Minnesota is a big concern to many here. In Northwestern Minnesota moose have all but disappeared. In the 1990s there was an estimated 4,500 and now there are thought to be less than 20. Wildlife researchers and northern Minnesotans fear that may happen here, so until a clearer picture is presented, studies into what is killing Minnesota’s gentle giant will continue.
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