MOOSE IN SOUTHLAND

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 89, 30 March 1932, Page 8

MOOSE IN SOUTHLAND

ONE SIGHTED BY THREE MEN. Invercargill, March 29. Throe young men, when looking for cattle on the edge of a bush on Mr Lionel Gait’s property at Papatotara, near Tuatapere, were astonished to see what at first they thought to be an exceptionally largo deer with peculiar antlers coming towards them across an open swamp. The animal, on closer view, proved to be a moose, which had evidently wandered a long way from its usual haunts.

The animal made for the bush and has not been seen since, but the ranger, Mr Smith, who was in the vicinity the next day, was quite convinced that the animal was a moose from the description given and also from the hoof marks, which he examined. These were 61 inches long and 4| inches wide.

It is stated that the moose was about 40 miles from where a herd is believed to be. It was in 1910 that the Southland Acclimatisation Society released moose in the fiord country. The animals came from the eastern coast of America, and from reports received from time to time by the society it was evident that they were finding their new habitat quite congenial. A big increase in the number of tracks seen was reported, and at times the animals themselves were observed.

The distinction of securing the first moose head ever obtained in New Zealand and possibly in the southern hemisphere was gained by Mr E. J. Herrick, of Hastings, who in 1929, in company with Mr J. Muir, of Hawea Flat, spent five week’s at the head of Dusky Sound.