Moose captured and collared along Hwy. 11

Moose numbers have increased dramatically in the past 30 years in Southern Saskatchewan farmland areas and a new research project spearheaded by the University of Saskatchewan is trying to find out what these animals are up to.

Ryan Brook, moose project director and assistant professor in the U of S College of Agriculture and Bioresources, said his group was capturing and collaring moose in the area along Highway 11 between Dundurn and Chamberlain during the month of February in an effort to understand their movements, diet, home range, what kinds of habitats they use and when and where they cross roads and highways.

He said the capture of the moose lasts a maximum of 30 minutes and the collars have a built in GPS unit enabling the researchers to know the movements of the moose every hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“We have a short chase time,” said Brook. “We shoot a net out of a helicopter and the net immobilizes the moose. We hobble the legs together, put a blindfold over their eyes, so it calms the animal down, and then we put a collar around the neck.

“We then draw a blood sample for assessing health of the animal, take a poop sample to look for parasites and disease, and take just a pinch of hair from around the tail, so we can look for genetics and diet of the animal.

“As soon as that’s done, we take off the hobbles, remove the blindfold and just let her go.”

Brook said the collar would stay on the moose for two full years and then fall off on its own meaning the group never has to bother the animal again. He said they managed to capture and collar 17 adult female moose over the span of a day and a half last month, with one animal dying from a broken neck suffered during the fall after being netted.

“That’s unfortunately just a challenge of capturing large animals,” he said, noting the capture adheres with guidelines laid out by the Canadian Council on Animal Care. “There is a risk during capture because they go down in a net. That would be with any capture (of any large animal).”

The project will focus on adult males next February and has an end goal of capturing and collaring 50 moose in total if they can find more funding support.

To read more please see the March 4 print edition of The Davidson Leader.