LONDON: Moose population in Canada, specifically in Manitoba, is declining with the Wildlife Society Manitoba chapter claiming a decline of 50 per cent from once a 45,000 strong population.
Citing this decline, the Society has penned an open letter to the Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Tom Nevakshonoff with an intention of revealing status of the moose population, but also to instigate much needed conservation efforts across the nation and the province.
Based on current estimates, the Society says that the population of moose has declined by over 50 per cent – from a peak of over 45,000 to below 20,000 – and is urging the conservation minister and the government to develop a comprehensive Province-wide moose management plan followed by regional action plans in order to achieve lasting moose population recovery.
Pegging moose as the keystone wildlife species that plays a critical role in vegetation nutrient cycling, predator prey dynamics, and overall ecosystem resilience, the Society has urged the minister to consider the status of the moose population and recommendations put forward to conserve them.
The Society says that the moose, whose current range extends across most of Manitoba, is also an important source of enjoyment for many Manitobans from a healthy food perspective, connection to the outdoors, hunting tradition, and
are culturally invaluable for many Aboriginal peoples.
The Society, which has as its members scientists, professors, managers, biologists, educators, and planners, pegs a number of reasons as responsible for the decline in moose population. The Society says that moose have a very limited reproductive capacity and when this limitation is combined with factors such as increasingly developed landscape, advanced hunting technologies, emerging diseases, and undocumented harvest, the population of moose becomes vulnerable.
