14 DAY TRIAL // Recent news from Minnesota informs us that those hoping to kill a moose or two during this year's hunting season are now left with no choice except figure out some other way to spend their free time.
This is because the state's Department of Natural Resources has decided to institute a ban on moose hunting, whose goal is that of allowing these animals' population to at least partly recover.
Apparently, the state's moose population dropped to a considerable extent in just one year.
More precisely: official reports say that, back in 2012, as many as 4,230 such animals roamed these lands; on the other hand, the beginning of 2013 witnessed Minnesota's moose population dropping by as much as 35%, meaning that only 2,760 such herbivores are now left to inhabit said state.
Tom Landwehr, presently working as a Department of Natural Resources commissioner, wished to draw attention to the fact that, "The state’s moose population has been in decline for years but never at the precipitous rate documented this winter."
"This is further and definitive evidence the population is not healthy. It reaffirms the conservation community’s need to better understand why this iconic species of the north is disappearing from our state," Tom Landwehr went on to add.
For the time being, wildlife researchers are still trying to figure out what it is exactly that is killing Minnesota's moose population at such fast rates.
Thus, some blame climate change, whereas others argue that disease, parasites and predation are the ones to be held accountable, Duluth News Tribune reports.
Despite the fact that hunting is not known to have a detrimental effect on the state's moose population, specialists working with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources hope that their issuing this hunting ban will translate into the species' getting some help in terms of making a recovery.
"The DNR’s [Department of Natural Resources] decision to suspend hunting makes sense given the disturbing and abrupt decline in moose numbers. To me, the big news is the incredibly disappointing survey results."
"The hunting decision is simply a logical reaction to an uncertain situation that researchers are trying to resolve," said Rolf Peterson, a research professor currently employed at the Michigan Technological University.