Larry, via email (somewhat edited) asks… So how many moose-auto collisions recorded this year in Saskatchewan?

This is one we can simply eat our way our of. 🙂
When discussing the issue with people I’ve met at the annual Sportsman’s Show, put on annually in March by the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation, I was told that there are a number of hunters who like being able to hunt a moose on farmland: where it’s easier to spot them, easier to hunt them, drive up to the carcass, load it in a truck and drive away. I think these people would also, if given the opportunity, prefer to have local swimming pools filled with pike, walleye and trout.
Secondly, some have told me that a few farmers claim to like having moose on their land and area and don’t want them severely reduced or eliminated. That if that is the plan, they promise to post all the land they own and/or control ‘No Hunting’.
Because nowadays, the remaining farmers do control or farm so much land, many of the S.W.F. hunters are scared of that and acquiesce.
Thirdly, and this I’ve surmised myself, previously wildlife management in Sask. was done by hunters and those who grew up with a farm/agricultural view of wild game as important but less than human value. However, over the last 20 years, a number of animal rights utopian fantasylanders have moved in the Dept. of the Environment and are biasing the decisions covertly.
While SARM influence has kept varmints on open season e.i. coyotes, foxes, crows, magpies, gophers etc. For large animals, traditionally, this was done to protect people and livestock.
The animal rights types think having large numbers of elk, moose and more cougars in farm areas as a “return to nature”. Think Gaia, pantheism/animist values, and a rejection of man’s (Biblical) “dominion” over nature.
A few years ago, a number of auto moose collision deaths occurred over the summer. Finally, one included a mountie responding to a call racing down the highway near North Battleford.
My repeated calls to Gormley’s show finally got a response, as many were clearly thinking as you and I do. The Wall government promised to increase the number of farmland moose licences, which it did.
Anyone I talked to around Saskatoon and a hour or so drive, seemed to be filling their tags pretty quick and easy. It’s hard not to spot a big, dark moose in a crop field, snow or no snow. However, the number of licences was not enough, even over the last 3-4 years to really drop the population to previous safer levels.
Last year a Sask. Dept. of Environment scientist researcher was on John Gormley’s show. Instead of deciding what number of moose licences were needed to protect the people driving on highways and grid roads, he was trying to save as many moose as possible.
He came up with an experiment of collaring a small number of female moose in a few areas to determine which moose could be predicted to cross highways and thus target only them.
Too often there are none so stupid as the “educated” people.
This scientist reported on some “preliminary” results: females don’t move around as much as they thought. (Gee whiz, what mammal raising young does?) Of course, this scientist stated that his findings indicate a need for expanded funding and collaring more moose for a larger more definitive result. Another two years??
Premier Wall, the last time he addressed the issue on Gormley’s show stated the government wanted to base it’s policy on science.
So, to offset whatever politics are going on behind the scene, we need to find out what stats are kept by whom, SERM/SGI? I suspect they are not complete with listings of deaths, injuries and data on where, when and what type of moose was involved.
Then keep making that public and hang the death/injury rates around the government’s neck. Nothing less will get the numbers reduced to much safer levels. I don’t know if the number of accidents/injuries/deaths have gone down or it’s just that less detail is released to the media to keep the issue an “insider” one.
This is a serious issue here and certainly in Newfoundland, too. And likely some other areas.