Moose Rehab

Moose Rehab

Moose rehabilitation has proven to be a difficult task and with the wide reaching decline in the numbers of wild moose has reached a new urgency to provide a safe route back to the wild for orphaned calves.  Despite their size moose are highly specialized in their wild environment and subsequently are very delicate when receiving human care.

NLWS has been rehabbing moose since 1991 and we are happy to report that moose rehab is possible and very successful with the correct feeding regimes and good housing. Our oldest post release monitored female turned 12 in 2016 and has once again a healthy calf by her side.  We have been able to prove with the moose that integration in the wild population is possible, that they survive and reproduce successfully and that they do not became nuisance animals.

Is it safe to release human raised moose?
We admitted 71 moose calves and released 59 (83%) including calves that where admitted with leg fractures. Daisy our first leg fractures is a 2003 calf and just returned with a healthy calf in the winter of 2015/16. We have many other females with similar records. None of our released moose have ever attacked a human, though they certainly live in our rural community. Most people are just happy to report their numbers back to us for record keeping purposes.



Are they protected after release?
Rehabbed animals have no special protection once they have been released. We have records of our moose being hunted by humans and animals and that is part of returning back to a life in the wild. 
However on occasion we have adult moose returning to the shelter after being injured or in bad winter conditions. We also have cows returning to give birth near the shelter enclosures, feeling safe and protected in our presence. Such occasions give us a unique opportunity to record details in our post release monitoring efforts.


Research Projects
For many years we have collaborated with Dr. Roy Rea from UNBC in Prince George.  Dr. Rea has completed and published several moose research projects, which included the moose raised by NLWS.




Such studies are very important as they serve the moose species and extend our work beyond individual welfare. Rehabilitation is unfortunately not a well-used study opportunity, but we are working hard to make connections so that our work is benefiting the individual as well as the species. 



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