This doesn’t make much sense. They have not nailed down the exact cause, yet they will continue to remove animals from the population? That’s not exactly a prudent move in light of the lack of information. Where is the hunting community in Minnesota stepping up to defend this moose population? Where are the resort owners and outfitters who depend on this symbol of the Northwoods to bring tourists into the area? I’m shocked we haven’t heard anything yet as Minnesota residents sit quietly by as the DNR permits large numbers of moose to be intentionally taken from a crashing population.
Research seems to be pointing at climate change which stresses the moose. Warmer temps also increase parasite populations.
Mike,
In Idaho several hunters would go to the IDFG meetings to voice our perspective concerning hunt unit populations. Hunters have recommended unit closures in the past here. Specifically concerning elk and deer populations. They ignore our input consistently. As well if you read the book by Elmer Keith “Hell I was there”, in his era they did also, and their input was ignored. Also the opposition like the Maughan blog does it to us as well. The people on the ground are scoffed and ignored. The controlled hunt units around me are ruined, and the open units are like hunting a controlled unit, you have some game, but not nearly what it once was. It is a combination of human, weather, hunting, natural death, and wild predation. It is far worse than you want to believe, and IDFG will never fess up to it. So I bet the hunters in Minnesota get the same treatment, ignored, if you ignore folks long enough they’ll quit talking to you.
It is not wise to dismiss hunter opinions when it comes to wildlife management. One of my friends runs a sporting good/hunting store and is a staunch supporter for balanced wildlife management–which includes both hunter and environmentalist opinions.
Greg – Interesting about the hunters offering to close down some of the units. why do you think the IDFG ignored you?
Jim – I agree. Balance is important when gathering input for wildlife and public land issues. However, I feel that the most important thing is science. If the science irks some people, so be it.
Yes, I do believe science to be the holy grail for wildlife management. It is (supposed to be) impartial to opinions and focuses on the empirical facts and what cognitive thoughts can be formed from both hypothesized and theorized truths. That means wildlife management decisions and laws enforcing these decisions need to be carefully decided and implemented.
Mike,
Revenue takes precedence over truth, no matter the game being played where government is concerned. Elmer said the same thing in his time, the money was more important than the health of the herds back then to. That’s why IDFG lies and says elk are doing just dandy come and buy your tags boys.
If if you take man out of the picture–leaving wolves, elk, bear, etc., things would work themselves out. But you put man back into the picture and they see elk as food, elk as a source of revenue, and wolves as a threat to both of those things. Hence, you have the mentality of the IDFG which means they aren’t listening to anyone but those who want the wolves gone. The hunters in Minnesota and Michigan are itching to doing the same thing. That is why the federal government did a stupid thing by giving these states the right to control their own wolf populations. It’s important to keep the wolf population in check in relation to the other wildlife, but that just doesn’t seem to work. Too many people making selfish decisions.
You’re making sweeping generalizations again. I’m a hunter and the majority of hunters that I know (I’m involved with several conservation groups, so that numbers in the hundreds) fully support wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the UP. However, we also support wolf management based on scientific management principles because wolves have hit the saturation point in “wolf range” in these states and are establishing themselves in more populated areas where there more human-wolf conflicts are occurring. Admittedly, there are some whack jobs out there that want to see wolves totally eradicated, but that’s a fringe group. As it now with federal protection, there is no management and the public’s support of wolves is starting to show signs of waning as more livestock and pets are killed — giving more ammunition to the eliminate-the-wolf crowd.
On the other side of the whack job spectrum, last week we had some idiot animal rights activists release a rare Mexican Gray Wolf from the wolf center near my house and she wandered down into the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities (New Brighton) before she was captured — she was lucky that she wasn’t killed on one of the numerous busy highways she had to cross during her 25-plus mile journey. Does anyone really believe that releasing that wolf was doing her a favor?
From what wolf center was it released.
Okay, maybe I was generalizing. But here is an article about the wolf release. It wasn’t center people but idiots who broke in and snatched the wolfies before improperly releasing them.
Endangered Mexican wolf recaptured in Twin Cities
Click Here for Expanded Coverage from WCCO
Communic8Submit More InformationSubmit Pictures/VideoNEW BRIGHTON, Minn. (AP) — An endangered Mexican gray wolf that’s been on the run for several days has been returned to a wildlife center in Forest Lake.
I know that the mexican grays are carefully mananaged to prevent such instances of mismanagement. People who introduce wolves into an an area where there is any question of adaptation are not following federal fish and game rules–at least rules agreed upon by most nationally recognized wolf release authorities.
Jim – I had to edit part of your post because it contained several paragraphs from the AP. Sorry. Feel free to post a link to the article. The AP has been very stingy with use of their material lately.
I’d bet that climate change will ultimately be implicated in this population crash. Moose are boreal and boreal habitat is being pushed north by climate change. This habitat shift issue is cited in dozens of species accounts in the newly published “Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State.”
“But here is an article about the wolf release. It wasn’t center people but idiots who broke in and snatched the wolfies before improperly releasing them.”
Jim,
I apologize if I wasn’t clear: some people (read: idiots) broke into the wolf center enclosure illegally and succeeded in releasing one of the center’s Mexican wolves.