The University of Wyoming’s Geological Survey Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit is joining forces with the Wyoming Game and Fish to get a clearer picture of Snowy Range’s moose population.
Located approximately 30 minutes outside of Laramie, the Snowy Range area is host to a large moose population, and part of the Game and Fish’s recent effort to better understand the population in Snowy Range involves estimating the population via fly-over surveys.
“We’re predicting we’ve got a little more than 300 moose,” Game and Fish Regional Wildlife Coordinator Corey Class said.
Of those 300, the university team and Game and Fish captured 30 female moose. Each had a blood sample drawn; their vitals checked and were ultimately fitted with a GPS collar. The collars collect GPS data multiple times a day, and eventually eject segments that send out a radio signal sent to the Game and Fish.
Class said the capture effort was minimally invasive and successful.
“We usually shoot for a below ten percent mortality rate,” Class said. “We didn’t have any in this operation.”
Class also said the benefits provided by tagging and taking samples from the moose outweighs any of the harms to the animals, and said the experience was comparable to visiting a doctor.
“We give them drugs to counteract pain and reverse it when we leave the area, almost like you would when going to the doctors,” Class said. “Except you usually don’t get darted at the doctor’s office.”
In addition to the collars and blood samples, the moose also underwent ultrasounds, revealing a herd that is both fat and fertile.
“Unlike humans, the health of animal populations is measured by body fat,” Class said. “We feel we’ve got a pretty healthy population.”
Class said the Snowy Range moose population had a high pregnancy rate indicating that, while other herds in Wyoming are declining, the Snowy Range herd is doing well.
A moose rests in a field during a rain storm. UW researchers are striving to better understand the moose population of Wyoming.
