Moose prowling about Major's Cottage today

[arildno]

At Major's Cottage, a central, heavily trafficked district in Oslo, a moose was wandering about today, until it was shot by the authorities.

It is not uncommon for outlying districts of Oslo to get visits from moose, who have a penchant of gnawing down fruit trees.

 

[Astronuc]

Moose and cloudberry sauce is a great meal.

Once in a while, we have an errant moose in our area.

 

[arildno]

Moose and cloudberry sauce is a great meal.

Indeed! (Although cranberry is more usual)

Once in a while, we have an errant moose in our area.

I thought you had elks, rather than moose, over there?

Furthermore:
My Dad visited NewFoundland in the early 80s on a biology conference.
He was green with envy of the vast fields of cloudberry-decked marshland there.
He was flabbergasted when it became apparent that most of his Canadian colleagues didn't know cloudberries were edible, or only had heard vague rumours that they were.

Are cloudberries eaten where you live in the US, Astronuc?

 

[Evo]

Poor Moose.

 

[Astronuc]

Indeed! (Although cranberry is more usual)


I thought you had elks, rather than moose, over there?

Furthermore:
My Dad visited NewFoundland in the early 80s on a biology conference.
He was green with envy of the vast fields of cloudberry-decked marshland there.
He was flabbergasted when it became apparent that most of his Canadian colleagues didn't know cloudberries were edible, or only had heard vague rumours that they were.

Are cloudberries eaten where you live in the US, Astronuc?

I doubt anyone grows cloudberries in the US. I'm glad there are cloudberries in Newfoundland. I'm hoping to visit there. I had a very nice dinner of moose with cloudberry sauce when I visited Västerås, Sweden many years ago. I also understand that cloudberry wine is very good.

Cranberries are grown further east near the Atlantic Coast, south of where cloudberries would grow.

 

[arildno]

Hmm..I evidently used "fields" wrongly. It was not cultivated in any way, just flat marshland.

 

[nismaratwork]

I doubt anyone grows cloudberries in the US. I'm glad there are cloudberries in Newfoundland. I'm hoping to visit there. I had a very nice dinner of moose with cloudberry sauce when I visited Västerås, Sweden many years ago. I also understand that cloudberry wine is very good.

Cranberries are grown further east near the Atlantic Coast, south of where cloudberries would grow.

Very good, POWERFUL hangover from the enormous amounts of congeners in the wine. I would say it's like a dry plum wine, and good for sipping or with meat.

Lingonberry is also DELICIOUS with game... still, I feel badly for the moose, but then I'm a hyprocrit who still eats meat that I don't have to look in the eye.

 

[Astronuc]

Hmm..I evidently used "fields" wrongly. It was not cultivated in any way, just flat marshland.

I read it as growing wildly and indigenously, which is how cranberries grew until cultivated. As far as I know, cloudberries grow further north than the US, although there might be some in Maine, or perhaps Quebec. Besides Newfoundland, Labrador, and maybe New Brunswick and Nova Scotia would seem to have the ideal climate for cloudberries.

In other words, I think cloudberries would have to be cultivated in the US, because I don't think they grow inidgenously.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

Why shot? Couldnt they have moved it or captured it or something else? I know nothing about moose, but doesn't that seem excessively cruel?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Why shot? Couldnt they have moved it or captured it or something else? I know nothing about moose, but doesn't that seem excessively cruel?

I have heard that moose can be dangerous. Also they are fairly large, I think it would be difficult to capture one and such an attempt would likely make it react violently.

 

[Evo]

Couldn't they tranquilize it? I know they tranquilize bears to move them.

 

[Astronuc]

Couldn't they tranquilize it? I know they tranquilize bears to move them.

It depends on the bear, it's age, and whether or not it's police vs environmental or wildlife persons who respond.

Recently a young bear made its way into town. The bear was caught, tranquilized and resettled in a wilderness area. It was small and not much of a threat. However, several years ago, a yearling wandered into town and the local police shot and killed it.

Occasionally moose wander into the area. Some are caught and relocated, and others are killed.

 

[arildno]

Couldn't they tranquilize it? I know they tranquilize bears to move them.

Possibly.
The thing is that the woodland around Oslo is heavily overpopulated with moose, with an estimated winter population of 120.000 or so.
Some decades ago (50s and 60s), the estimated number was in order of 20.000.

The hunting is not sufficient to reduce the number, some 30.000-40.000 being shot every year (too few hunters, it has no natural predator).

Thus, in the latter years, moose are tending to find their food in populated areas, being rather an annoyance.

Shooting them, rather than just tranquilizing them seems the "best" choice. At least for us humans.

EDIT:
Those numbers were the national numbers, not the regional ones.
The total shot per year is a 1/20 of the number I gave, i.e, about 1800.
The problems remain though, regionally.

 

[nismaratwork]

For the record, and this is purely clinical, not a matter of "should":

Moose are well tranquilized with Wildnil (Carfentanil Citrate), and the dosages are also well known. It is a choice to kill, or tranquilize, and which I suspect has everything to do with what Astronuc and Arildno have said.

I would add, a police officer would normally not even be allowed to OWN Wildnil, and miniscule amounts in that conentration can rapidly kill a human; you must ALWAYS have the reversal agent at hand (Naltrexone).

 

[arildno]

For the record, and this is purely clinical, not a matter of "should":

Moose are well tranquilized with Wildnil (Carfentanil Citrate), and the dosages are also well known. It is a choice to kill, or tranquilize, and which I suspect has everything to do with what Astronuc and Arildno have said.

I would add, a police officer would normally not even be allowed to OWN Wildnil, and miniscule amounts in that conentration can rapidly kill a human; you must ALWAYS have the reversal agent at hand (Naltrexone).

For the record, it was not a policeman who shot the moose, but a professional hunter employed by the Oslo's Municipal Directorate for Wildlife&Recreation Areas (or something like that)

 

[nismaratwork]

For the record, it was not a policeman who shot the moose, but a professional hunter employed by the Oslo's Municipal Directorate for Wildlife&Recreation Areas (or something like that)

I understand, in the States there are similar issues, but it's usually with deer, not Moose. There are sanctioned hunts and seasons to keep down numbers, preserve crops, and minimize diseased and starving animals. I personally can't hunt animals (people are an exception), but that's my own issue, not something I project on others.

edit: A hunter would be even less likely than a police officer to have ready access to one of the most powerful opioids in the world.

 

[Evo]

For the record, it was not a policeman who shot the moose, but a professional hunter employed by the Oslo's Municipal Directorate for Wildlife&Recreation Areas (or something like that)

Do they at least donate the meat? Barbecue time?

 

[arildno]

Do they at least donate the meat? Barbecue time?

To their own family and colleagues, I presume.

Another reason why they are preferentially shot, rather than just tranquilized, is that the moose is an extraordinarily shy animal. (I have been quite a lot in the Oslo woods, but have just barely glimpsed it a couple of times in all my life. Nor do they make much of a rustle)

Thus, those individuals that DO tend to seek out populated areas are precisely the ones most likely to come back again.

There are, from time to time, some car accidents with moose involvement (not many yet in Oslo, though), and they cannot easily reach the populated areas without crossing roads that are fairly heavily trafficked at daytime. Usually, they come into the urbanized zones at about 4-5 a.m, but we don't want panicked moose running about and on our roads too frequently at daytime.

 

[nismaratwork]

To their own family and colleagues, I presume.

Another reason why they are preferentially shot, rather than just tranquilized, is that the moose is an extraordinarily shy animal. (I have been quite a lot in the Oslo woods, but have just barely glimpsed it a couple of times in all my life. Nor do they make much of a rustle)

Thus, those individuals that DO tend to seek out populated areas are precisely the ones most likely to come back again.

There are, from time to time, some car accidents with moose involvement (not many yet in Oslo, though), and they cannot easily reach the populated areas without crossing roads that are fairly heavily trafficked at daytime. Usually, they come into the urbanized zones at about 4-5 a.m, but we don't want panicked moose running about and on our roads too frequently at daytime.

I know that in the northeastern USA at least, deer-hunters often use the meat, and when they don't programs exist to donate that meat to shelters and food banks. I would be shocked if such a progressive nation would be any different, unless the animal was diseased in some way.

 

[Astronuc]

I understand, in the States there are similar issues, but it's usually with deer, not Moose. There are sanctioned hunts and seasons to keep down numbers, preserve crops, and minimize diseased and starving animals. I personally can't hunt animals (people are an exception), but that's my own issue, not something I project on others.

There was a deer cull on local university campus in which about 40 deer were shot. There are just too many to simply relocate them.

We live in a semi-urban/semi-rural area, and there are hundreds of deer without natural predators. I've started to see more deer on the roadside in the past week. We've had between 6 and 8 in our backyard. They are a significant hazard on local roads.

 

[nismaratwork]

There was a deer cull on local university campus in which about 40 deer were shot. There are just too many to simply relocate them.

We live in a semi-urban/semi-rural area, and there are hundreds of deer without natural predators. I've started to see more deer on the roadside in the past week. We've had between 6 and 8 in our backyard. They are a significant hazard on local roads.

No need to tell me! I route IP traffic through my residence, but I'm originally a suburban guy. My mother has a very wild "lawn"; ferns and wildflowers and hemlock (which deer have eaten). Lately, she saw 16 deer running away when she went out to compost... fishers, deer, hawks, coyotes, chipmunks, a variegated woodpecker... etc. Oh yes... and turkeys... a growing number of turkeys.

"Needs must when the devil drives."

I understand the need, just don't ask me to pull the trigger unless it's a human being who is a threat. I don't claim rationality at my core, only that I try to be rational in my actions.