By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer
September 28, 2007 05:04 pm
—
By KIM SMITH DEDAM
Staff Writer
ELIZABETHTOWN — Moose are on the move.
And officials from the Department of Environmental Conservation are warning drivers to watch out, particularly through September and October.
“Early fall is the breeding season for moose in northern New York,” DEC spokesman David Winchell in a statement issued Friday. “Moose are wandering, leading them to areas where they are not typically seen.”
Bulls, some with antlers four to five feet wide, can be unpredictable this time of year.
While people may have a better chance of spotting the tall, lanky animals, there is greater danger of colliding with one on the roadway.
POPULATION GROWTH
DEC estimates the moose population in the Adirondack region to be near 500, about ten times what it was in 1997.
They had all but disappeared from northern New York forests since Civil War days.
“Basically, it kind of surprised us that these animals were taking to New York,” said Chuck Dente, a DEC big-game biologist based in Albany. “They have adapted quite well.”
New York’s moose population growth is now mainly due to the birth of calves in the state, rather than migration, Dente said.
“We are now receiving numerous reports of sightings of cows with calves, a good sign of a prolific moose population.”
RECENT COLLISIONS
More moose means more chance encounters with people.
So far in 2007, the state has recorded 12 moose-automobile collisions, a record even before the start of breeding season, Winchell said.
Late last May, a car hit a 400-pound moose calf on Route 86 less than a mile from Price Chopper in Lake Placid.
Three other moose were killed by vehicles in the Adirondacks that month: one in the Town of Wilton, one on Route 30 north of Paul Smiths and one on Route 30 between Speculator and Wells.
Winchell said DEC is working with the Department of Transportation to determine if and where moose-crossing signs might be placed.
HEAVY DAMAGE
Moose are very large animals and can weigh almost as much as a small car.
A bull moose can measure six feet tall at the shoulders and weigh 1,400 pounds.
“Their large body causes greater damage (in collisions), and, when struck, their height often causes them to impact the windshield of a car or pickup truck, not just the front of the vehicle,” Winchell said.
Moose are most active at dawn and at dusk, when light is poor.
Their brownish-black coloring makes them difficult to spot at night.
And their height often puts the bulk of their bodies above the path of a vehicle’s headlights.
It is common for them to travel in pairs or in small groups.
MOOSE ENCOUNTER
About 8 p.m. Tuesday, Amy Patrie, who lives in Rouses Point, was driving down Oak Street in Champlain.
“As I passed the intersection of Chestnut and Oak, I started to let off the gas for the approaching stop sign. Clearly, to the right front of my vehicle stood a moose who was venturing to cross the road,” she told the Press-Republican in an e-mail.
“Two teenagers, who were walking up Oak Street to visit a friend, were standing motionless a few feet away from where the moose was attempting to cross.
“I am 57 years old and have never in my lifetime seen a moose in Champlain, let alone come within a few feet of having it as a permanent fixture on the hood of my car! Motorists should be cautioned as this is not a designated ‘moose crossing.’”
MOOSE WANDER
Reports of wandering moose are coming in from all over.
“Just recently a young male tramped through Troy, swam across the Hudson River and moseyed to a back yard in Waterford before DEC officials tranquilized and relocated him to the wilderness,” Dente said.
On Thursday, a bull moose rambled into Queensbury near Aviation Mall, Winchell said, after wandering past Great Escape theme park.
It had wrestled its antlers free from a fence but was later found dead, likely of heat exhaustion from the effort.
The carcass was removed to DEC’s pathology lab in Delmar.
A bull moose wandered into Burlington and roamed off side streets not far from Fletcher Allen Health Care on Tuesday. It was shot and killed, a move that caused some controversy.
Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Wayne Laroche said the moose posed an unacceptable risk to public safety.
While moose seem slow and docile, “they can reach a top speed of more than 35 miles per hour.”
If the moose in Burlington had charged, Laroche said, “it could have covered the 23-yard distance to the sidewalk in less than two seconds.
“The animal was quickly, humanely and safely dispatched. First and foremost, it was the duty of the officers to ensure public safety.”
Game wardens in Vermont, which has fewer total square miles than the Adirondack Park and about four times the year-round population, responded to 306 moose incidents in 2006.
There have been no human deaths from moose collisions in New York.
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at:
kdedam@pressrepublican.com
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.