Moose mania too much to take
Suburban scourge won't eat your cat
By Kelly Egan, The Ottawa CitizenJune 16, 2010
Moose, generally speaking, don't attack civilians. Death by antler, we understand, is fairly rare.
That's the good news.
So, what to do about these lost, gangly souls that keep popping up in the east end of town, in the suburban glades of babbling crescents and craggy garages?
There is a meeting this week at which much brainpower will sit around the table -- the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ottawa police, the City of Ottawa -- not to mention a fair bit of firepower, too.
So, our advice is timely: do nothing.
Leave the moose alone. Let the moose figure its own way out of Metro Orléans. It got in. It'll get out. It is not going to burst through the patio door or eat the cat.
Yes, indeed, we need massive amounts of tranquilizers nearby. To hand out to the antsy crowd. Good people, chill.
Moose are only a hazard after we create one. Put them in a park, surround them with camera clickers and moms and children and teens on bikes and police and, voilà, the great beast is a danger.
Worse yet, shoot it with a pair of ineffective tranquilizers, make it bleed, and now we have an injured, adrenalin-pumped Bullwinkle trying to frantically escape through this weird, unrecognizable terrain.
Look out, it's a dangerous moose! Better corner it! Better shoot it!
Here's the secret thing about wild animals. They're wild. They're animals. They don't behave predictably.
I once covered a story about a moose that, overnight, moved into a farmer's field near Ste-Anne-de-Prescott. It must have enjoyed the company of cows. It stayed for more than six weeks.
The point being that police, in particular, haven't got all day or all week to babysit an 800-pound animal that doesn't seem to know where it's going.
So, what to do? Well, after shooting dead two moose in two separate episodes, how about something different?
Everybody points to tranquilization as the answer. Well, everybody watches too much TV.
Spoke to Rick Watchorn, the area supervisor for the Kemptville office of the Ministry of Natural Resources. He pointed out some problems with the "immobilization" of such a large mammal.
First of all, there is considerable training involved before personnel are able to handle the firearm and the restricted drugs that are usually used. At the moment, few people have it.
Then there is the problem of actually administering the right drug in the right dosage.
"Shooting a moving animal in the right spot to deliver an accurate dose is very difficult."
If you miss, what of the missing dart?
Once the animal is tranquilized, there is the issue of "after-care protocol," meaning how to safely handle the beast while loading it, transporting it, and releasing it in its new home.
I also wondered about one other thing: How do you know the moose doesn't come back next week? Then what? Hit restart?
"It's not as easy as walking up and shooting it with a dart and it falls over," Watchorn said.
In any case, MNR's position has not changed, despite the public indignation that followed the pair of moose shootings.
It does not see itself as an animal retrieval service, nor will it respond to a wildlife problem in your backyard.
"We don't manage individual animals."
The sole exception is bears, because they are deemed to be a greater threat to humans.
Donna DuBreuil is president of the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre. She, too, thinks giving the animal a suitable period to return to the wild is the best first option.
"It didn't arrive by helicopter. It's going to wander in the same route it came out. Those moose were not posing any immediate threat to people."
She believes the City of Ottawa needs a comprehensive strategy on how to deal with wildlife, period, rather than taking ad hoc measures to deal with specific species, be it moose, deer or coyotes.
"We've always said the police shouldn't be involved. Except to do crowd control."
Dr. Dan Rodgers, a veterinarian with some 33 years experience, is a vice-president of the wildlife centre. He has been following the coverage of the moose encounters with some dismay.
"Everybody is frustrated because everybody is passing the buck," he said Tuesday. "Somebody has to step up to the plate."
Police Chief Vern White has been tasked with finding a solution. An unenviable job.
One imagines a police wildlife unit, but where are the lines drawn? Bears, coyotes, moose, strangely-behaving raccoons?
You know, before we try doing everything for everyone, maybe we should ask whether we have the courage to do nothing.
Just let them be.
Contact Kelly Egan at 613-726-5896 or by e-mail, kegan@thecitizen.canwest.com
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Third loose moose shot and killed by police in Ottawa area
By Nicki Thomas, The Ottawa Citizen June 16, 2010 Comments (37)
OTTAWA — Another moose wandering through a residential area has been shot and killed, this time by police in Rockland.
Ontario Provincial Police said the moose was spotted around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday near St. Jacques Street.
Efforts were made to locate a tranquilizer gun but none was available, said OPP Sgt. Mike Fortier.
He said the moose, which appeared to be a young male, wandered the area for about an hour, causing damage to hedges and fences.
By 6:30 a.m., it came close to the schoolyard at Carrefour Jeunesse Elementary School, where children were being dropped off for daycare, and the decision was made to put it down, Fortier said.
Nate Miville, whose house backs on to the parking lot of the elementary school, was brushing his teeth when he heard the first gunshot. Another rang out as he reached his back door and saw officers standing over the moose’s body.
Miville said he regularly uses the school’s parking lot as a makeshift off-leash area, closing its two gates to create a secure area where his dog can run around.
He said the officers might have tried doing the same, containing the moose safely until it was tranquilized and relocated. But he said he understands why they took a different course of action.
“It was 6:30 in the morning, school was about to start and the officers had to make a decision,” he said.
It's the third time since June 1 that police have shot and killed a moose that wandered into an urban area and the second involving a school.
On June 1, a young bull moose was shot by police after wandering into a park behind an Orléans elementary school. A second moose that had been shot with tranquilizer darts managed to escape.
Less than two weeks later police were called when a moose was spotted near St. Laurent Boulevard and Highway 417 last Saturday morning. Police shot the moose after it had been corralled in a vacant lot on Triole Street and became agitated. They were not able to find anyone with a tranquilizer gun to assist.
A meeting is to be held this week to deal with the issue.