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Moose regain footing in N.Y.
Roughly 500 of the animals are thought to be in rural areas
Jay Gallagher
Albany bureau
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(September 30, 2007) ? ALBANY ? The moose are loose in northern New York.
The number of moose, which until 20 years ago were almost never seen in New York, is now estimated at 500, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said Thursday.
"It's wonderful to see this marvelous animal make its way back to New York," said DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis, who noted that the moose disappeared from New York around the end of the Civil War because of unregulated hunting and the chopping down of woodlands for farms.
But in some rural parts of the state, especially around the Adirondack Park, the animals, which weigh as much as 1,400 pounds and stand over 6 feet tall at their shoulders, have returned as well.
"Basically, it kind of surprised us that these animals were taking to New York," said Chuck Dente, a DEC biologist. "They have adapted quite well."
The state has recorded 12 moose-automobile collisions so far this year ? a record even before the start of breeding season, when the animals are most active. DEC is working with the state Department of Transportation to determine where moose-crossing signs might be placed. The animals are most active at dawn and dusk. They are hard to see at night because of their dark brown-to-black coloring and height, which puts their head and much of their body above the range of headlights.
Moose will eat 40 to 60 pounds of vegetation a day. Typically, they eat leaves, twigs and buds of hardwood and softwood trees. In summer, they might eat aquatic vegetation. Hunting them is illegal.
The original returnees wandered in from New England and Canada, but now there is evidence they are reproducing in New York, according to the DEC.
"We are now receiving numerous reports of sightings of cows with calves, a good sign of a prolific moose population," Dente said.
Sometimes they have wandered into populated areas. Earlier this year a young male tramped through Troy in Rensselaer County, swam across the Hudson River and walked through a back yard in Waterford, Saratoga County, before DEC officials tranquilized him and sent him back to the wilderness.
Roughly 500 of the animals are thought to be in rural areas
Jay Gallagher
Albany bureau
Post Comment (September 30, 2007) ? ALBANY ? The moose are loose in northern New York.
The number of moose, which until 20 years ago were almost never seen in New York, is now estimated at 500, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said Thursday.
"It's wonderful to see this marvelous animal make its way back to New York," said DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis, who noted that the moose disappeared from New York around the end of the Civil War because of unregulated hunting and the chopping down of woodlands for farms.
But in some rural parts of the state, especially around the Adirondack Park, the animals, which weigh as much as 1,400 pounds and stand over 6 feet tall at their shoulders, have returned as well.
"Basically, it kind of surprised us that these animals were taking to New York," said Chuck Dente, a DEC biologist. "They have adapted quite well."
The state has recorded 12 moose-automobile collisions so far this year ? a record even before the start of breeding season, when the animals are most active. DEC is working with the state Department of Transportation to determine where moose-crossing signs might be placed. The animals are most active at dawn and dusk. They are hard to see at night because of their dark brown-to-black coloring and height, which puts their head and much of their body above the range of headlights.
Moose will eat 40 to 60 pounds of vegetation a day. Typically, they eat leaves, twigs and buds of hardwood and softwood trees. In summer, they might eat aquatic vegetation. Hunting them is illegal.
The original returnees wandered in from New England and Canada, but now there is evidence they are reproducing in New York, according to the DEC.
"We are now receiving numerous reports of sightings of cows with calves, a good sign of a prolific moose population," Dente said.
Sometimes they have wandered into populated areas. Earlier this year a young male tramped through Troy in Rensselaer County, swam across the Hudson River and walked through a back yard in Waterford, Saratoga County, before DEC officials tranquilized him and sent him back to the wilderness.
