This picture taken moments before my sister was bitten...
Posted on 10/07/2006 8:27:55 AM PDT by Kurt_Hectic
The striking sight of a white moose in the forests of Østfold prompted a call for protection as the hunting season nears, but experts insisted the animal be shot.
The moose hunting season starts on Thursday, and hunting parties in the Østfold area where the rare albino moose has been sighted have asked that the animal be protected, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) reports.
But the head of the wildlife committee in the area, Sigmund Lerheim, can make no promises.
"I can't guarantee that it will survive as long as there are people who disagree that it should get to live," Lerheim said. "There are hunt quotas, where moose are specified by age and sex. But there is nothing about a moose having to be brown, gray or white," Lerheim said.
Fair game When the sighting was reported in newspaper Moss Avis only one local hunter was vocal about the white moose being fair game, and he has received support from scientists.
"It is surely entertaining to have an albino moose wandering in the woods but in purely breeding terms it is not right to let it live," Morten Brommdal, manager of the animal section at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Oslo told Moss Avis.
"That so many people want the white moose to live is an emotional issue. It is exciting to have such a rarity rustling around. But if it is spared we risk the moose's breeding qualities spreading. Soon we might two, three, four or five albino moose in these wooded areas, something which in the long run can weaken the herd," said Brommdal, who pointed out that an albino moose is really a kind of 'mistake'.
More vulnerable
Jon Arnemo, professor at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science (NVH), agreed that the albino moose was a rarity, though not a sensation.
"We estimate that there are about 450,000 moose in Scandinavia, of which about a third are shot every year. There are usually reports of one white moose every year," Arnemo told Moss Avis.
These animals are rarely very old. Their lack of pigmentation makes them more exposed to predators like wolves and they often have inferior sight or hearing.
Arnemo said that it was not yet certain that the sighted moose was a genuine albino, with a total lack of pigment and red eye, or a 'common' moose without pigmentation.
A moose once bit my sister....
Was anyone's sister bitten by said moose? I heard that moose bites can be pretty nasty...
Beat by twenty seconds, blast!
Does the moose like cheese?
"Soon we might two, three, four or five albino moose in these wooded areas, something which in the long run can weaken the herd," said Brommdal, who pointed out that an albino moose is really a kind of 'mistake'."
I wonder what they do about gays over there?
This picture taken moments before my sister was bitten...
That's what I like about FreeRepublic.com... Always the latest in moose news items.
A Møøse once bit my sister ...
No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse
with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given
her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and
star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo
Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst
Nordfink".
I'll bet it hurts.With a head that size i imagine a moose could bite with enough pressure to break bones.
Shooting white moose. Wow, feel the impiety. In Hungary and Finland that would be mythical!
Tomorrows headlines: Spark causes Kaboom!!
Only white cheese...
Being gay may just be nature's way of insuring that creatures genetic material is not passed on. Perhaps an effort to encourage more gays is a way to suppress an entire population.
Fixed!
My favorite moose thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1530943/posts
"Spark causes kaboom."LOL.I imagine that mooses remaining lifespan can be measured in minutes.If folks are that worked up why don't they shoot em with a tranquilizer and put him in a zoo or protected preserve?
LOL! ....Mooses are / can / have been very popular on FR. :D
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