Moose Sex Project aims to promote animal husbandry

Halifax Chronicle-Herald ^ | August 22, 2014 | Francis Campbell

[Loyalist]

A Nova Scotia mainland moose checks out the surroundings. An additional 198 hectares of land is being added to protected holdings in the region connecting New Brunswick to Nova Scotia with the goal of making it easier for the mammals to migrate and find mates. (CONTRIBUTED)

AMHERST — The mighty moose.

Large, gangly, antlered, awkward-looking twig eater.

Amorous and sexy, not so much.

But the so-called Moose Sex Project and the land conservancy that makes it possible were at the forefront of a land protection announcement at the YMCA in Amherst on Thursday.

“In terms of capturing people’s imaginations and getting people excited about the project, that name has done the trick,” said Paula Noel, program manager for the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

The conservancy announced the addition of 198 hectares of land to its protected holdings on the Chignecto Isthmus, the land bridge that links Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The latest addition of five pieces of land brings the amount of protected property on the isthmus to more than 1,000 hectares.

“The moose are an important part of what we are doing here,” Noel said. “The fact that moose are endangered in Nova Scotia and the way things were going on the Chignecto with development, with forestry that was occurring, and with the clearing for agriculture, it is a very narrow area in this greater landscape where there is connected forest, where animals are able to cross into Nova Scotia.”

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Er, above!

(The other below!)

[Man from Oz]

I don’t know about Nova Scotia moose but I know that moose in Alaska suffer from severe predation from bears and wolves.

I have been told that in some areas Moose calf crops (% that live) are less than 20%.

[Squawk 8888]

To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.

Canada Ping!