Moose are here to stay. Rob Tether, a wildlife biologist with the Ministry of Environment, spoke with the Journal the week of October 15 about the higher number of moose in the region, after two collisions each involving a moose and two cars happened in the region. He explained the moose have been slowly moving into the farmlands area of Saskatchewan since the 1980s. "Moose have a dispersal that takes place every spring and there was a time period where moose were mainly located along the northern provincial forest," said Tether. "They would not be very successful."The moose would try to come down into the farmland and were shot for food. There also wasn't much variety in crops. In the last 30 years or so, the attitude towards the giant creatures has changed and so have farming practices. "Farmers and the general public have started protecting moose if they dispersed into the farmland," said Tether. "Farmers started to change their farming practices and the type of crop they were planting." Moose can eat almost anything as long as it has good nutrition, and there were a lot more good crops being planted in the 1980s and 1990s. This allowed moose to get established in areas of the province they normally were not found in, explained Tether. "Now people are seeing them regularly throughout the whole province and that is what is happening in Humboldt and the surrounding areas," he added. There are about 50,000 moose in the whole province and about 10 per cent located in the agricultural zone, which includes Humboldt. There are anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 moose in the agricultural regions.In order to control the population, the Ministry has been implementing a few practices. One of the major changes was to increase the moose hunting opportunities. "We now have over 3,000 licences in the farmland area that keep that population at a stable level," said Tether. "I think we are getting closer to the population that is stabling and maybe even in some zones are decreasing." Also, the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation in combination with SGI are working on getting the message out to the public. "(They) are trying to get a message out to the driving public to be aware that moose are in the agricultural regions, to slow down and to watch for wildlife crossing," said Tether. "The key message this time of year is getting to the driving public and making them aware there are moose moving all over the countryside right now. "The biggest thing for people is to slow down around dusk and into the night period because that is when the moose are the most active," he explained. "The fact that they are such a dark animal, they are hard to see at night." He thinks these methods will help keep collision levels lower. Right now, moose are on the move because of rutting season, explained Tether. If someone sees a moose while driving, they are advised to stay in the vehicle. Although moose are not dangerous, they are unpredictable. "If they get spooked or cornered or feel threatened, they will take off," said Tether. "Sometimes they will just go in whatever path they want and that could be right over your vehicle. "People always want to get pictures," said Tether. "We always recommend that people try not to get close to an animal. (People) need to be aware they are moving around during the rut and can be more aggressive." The Ministry is also working with the Wildlife Advisory Committee to develop a long-term strategy in the area for moose. "I think moose are here to stay in the long-term so we need to come up with a long-term strategy of how we are going to manage moose and some of the issues that come with having moose," said Tether. It is currently antlerless moose hunting season and either-sex season will start on November 1. "There are hunters out there right now to hopefully help bring numbers down," said Tether.
