The Fiordland moose faced with extinction

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32903, 29 April 1972, Page 11

The Fiordland moose faced with extinction

(By

KEN COATES)

Unless New Zealand decides on a conservation programme for the diminishing numbers of the only herd of moose in the Southern Hemisphere, these moose are likely to die out.

Confirmation of both the herd’s existence and its probable bleak future has been brought back by the Forest Service’s scientific expedition which spent 11 weeks combing steep valleys and rain forest in Fiordland.

Although the four-man party did not actually sight a moose in the Dusky Sound area, they found plenty of fresh evidence of the big animal’s presence including hoof marks, hair, browsing of high foliage ano droppings. And they also found a moose antler. The leader, Mr Ken Tustin, a scientist at the Forest and Range Experiment Station, Rangiora, said it was remarkable how the moose had survived for such a long time in apparently such small numbers. “It is not man who poses the main problem to their future—it is red deer,’’ he said. The red deer, which are more gregarious and prolific, eat leaves and foliage—the same food eaten by moose. The solitary and furtive moose is therefore up against considerable competition for food. Although a fully grown moose has a 2ft height advantage when feeding, a younger animal would be in more direct competition with the red deer for about two years of life. From Canada Moose were brought to New Zealand from Canada and liberated in remote Fiordland to provide shooters with with another game animal—the king of deer. There have been sketchy reports of sightings and some shootings, but until this year information on tht moose has been vague. Mr Tustin, who will be making a full report to the Director-General of Forests, and the National Parks Authority, is reluctant to say just exactly where he found signs of the moose, mostly because he does not want to start a moose hunt by trophy hunters. Strangely enough, the moose are still officially classified as noxious animals although they least deserve the description. Their future hangs in the balance and will depend on what action the National Parks Authority takes. Closing the area to shooters would hardly be effective, even if it could be enforced. "The herd is unique in this part of the world and personally I would like to see some positive steps taken to see it does not die out, which is almost certain to happen if nothing is done," said Mr Tustin. One feasible management policy towards this end would be to reduce the numbers of red deer, and so the competition for food. Slow breeding The moose is not exactly a rapid multiplier. Even when living in its natural environment roaming round North America and northern Europe it has a low rate of reproduction. Studies in North America have shown that less than half the adult females have calves each year. Whereas the red deer stag has a harem of females, the bull moose relies more on chance meeting and mating. The spending of 11 weeks in Fiordland tramping through dense forest and up and down wet tributaries leading to Dusky Sound and Wet Jacket Arm was no picnic for Messrs Tustin, Jim

Hilton, of Rangiora; Les Stanley of Te Anau; and Nigel Prickett, of Dunedin. Fly camps The party was accompanied most of the time by a Fiordland National Park ranger and for six weeks by two members of the Deerstalkers’ Association. Access to the Dusky Sound area was by fishing boat; the party then used two small boats with outboard motors to reach the many valleys of streams and rivers flowing into the sounds. “We searched an area something like 300 to 400 square miles in area and had various food dumps established,” said Mr Tustin. “We went in groups of two or three, valley by valley, and often ‘flycamped’ by night. The valleys were typically steep-sided and heavily forested, and the going was fairlv rugged. “From the beginning of February until the middle of the month the weather was good, but later we had a great deal of rain—26 days continuously at one stage,” he added. Always wet “Working in these conditions we were wet all the time; at one point our clothes became mouldy, and in the morning we had to ring out our shirts and shorts before putting them on once again. Soon we began to smell like dish rags.” The party searched Resolution Island without success, but about the beginning of March for the first time came across evidence of moosebrowsing last year. This was recognisable on fuchsia 7ft 6in to Bft high. The limit to red deer browsing is approximately 6ft. “At the beginning of April we saw the first fresh signs of moose — large twigs half an inch through eaten off and something quite peculiar to moose which is called stripping. The animal runs the leaves of a thin branch through its teeth, and with

a sideways movement strips off the foliage.”

Mr Trustin described moose tracks as quite distinct from those of red deer with the "dew claw" at the back of each hoof making a visible imprint. The large front footprint also overlaps the smaller print left by the hind hoof in normal gait Animal hair “For the sceptics we brought back some hair which under a microscope will show a different cell pattern from the hair of red deer,” he said. “People tell us that we should have seen the moose because they are so big; but they are incredibly furtive animals and they do not live in groups." Once the party thought it would get near enough to a moose to take a photograph of it For four days they were in the same area and followed tracks and fresh signs. “We got very close several times. Any shooter will tell you that red deer can be smelled; the animal we could smell was certainly not a deer.” Cast antler One cause for jubilation was the finding of a cast antler by Jim Hilton on the north side of Wet Jacket Arm. Deer usually chew the antlers — which are cast once a year — and the party considers it was lucky to find this one, which was in swamp and covered with moss. Mr Trustin said that the number of moose was hard to estimate. The party found fresh signs in half a dozen areas, which suggested that they were not confined to one valley. However, one thing he is sure of — their existence in this remote part of the country is precarious.