Moose are dying in droves in Minnesota (as well as some Rocky Mountain states) and biologists are at a loss to say why, although some researchers believe that warming temperatures caused by climate change may be to blame.
“The adult moose are literally tipping over dead,” Steve Merchant of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently told the Wall Street Journal. In fact, their numbers have declined here by nearly 52% in just the past two years, leaving only about 2,760 here.”
In addition to warmer temperatures which may “be causing stress among the cold-weather dependent animals, causing them to take shelter instead of foraging for food,” National Wildlife biologist Doug Inkley added that the change in climate is also causing a population explosion of northern ticks in the region, “which could be spreading more disease among moose or simply sucking so much blood from them that they are becoming anemic.”
Although Minnesota’s annual moose hunt has been canceled and wildlife officials have put GPS collars are 100 animals in hope of discovering what is killing them, Maine (which has the largest moose population in the country) have shown a dramatic increase in it’s the number of moose here.
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