This is the first article I have come across that alludes to the possibility that the same debilitating factors that are knocking down Moose numbers in the Midwest and Intermountain West are at work in the Northeast...........Connecticut Moose sightings are down form 201 to 61 from 2010 to 2011,,,,,,,and many biologists are pointing to abnormally hot weather as the causal agent........We continue to report on warm weather generating huge Winter tick numbers as well as limiting Winter Deer kill,,,,,,,,,,, thus increasing deer brain disease that is lethal to Moose......It is estimated that perhaps 100 Moose have made Northwestern Connecticut their home since the 1990's..........Connecticut is in essence a grown up wooded suburb State with enough semi-connected forested patches to support Moose, coyotes and black bears........A record warm December for the Northeast is an ugly reminder of what global warming might have in store for all the creatures(and trees) of New England that require 4 true seasons(and historical temperature norms in those seasons) to prosper

Moose Sightings Way Down In Connecticut

The number of moose sightings in Connecticut in 2011 were way down — and milder weather may be the reason, according to a state wildlife biologist.Andy Labonte, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said moose sightings from 2010 to 2011 dropped by more than half – from 201 to 61. "It's been a quiet year for moose in Connecticut," said LaBonte, a scientist with DEEP's deer and moose program. "Moose prefer colder climates and it just hasn't been that cold."

Female Moose in a Connecticut field


Car accidents involving moose – which can stand six feet tall and weigh 1,400 pounds – are one measure of abundance, and there were none reported in the state in 2011, LaBonte said. That's compared to two in 2010 and an average of at least one a year in the previous five years. Labonte said 2007 was a high-water mark for moose collisions when four car accidents involving moose were reported.

The iconic moose of Maine's northern woods has been appearing more frequently in Connecticut since the mid-1990s, largely a result of improved habitat and a decline in hunting pressure. The current year-round population in the state, concentrated in the northwest hills, is about 100, LaBonte said.

Moose sightings are most frequent in the spring, when young moose are forced out on their own by their mothers, and during the fall mating season. Moose, like deer are browsers, subsisting mostly on aquatic plants like horsetails and pondweed and also leaves, red maple saplings and buds. LaBonte said full-grown animals typically consumed from 40 to 60 pounds of food a day.

Moose, the largest member of the deer family, are ideally suited for cold weather, with their thick coats and long, spindly legs, enabling them to trek through deep snow. But that physiology causes hardship in the heat, LaBonte said.

"Moose can easily overheat and this can cause them to die," LaBonte said. Warmer weather can also make the animals more prone to disease, such as attacks by the deadly parasitic brainworm, Parelaphostrongylus tenuis, a type of roundworm passed on to moose through the droppings of whitetail deer. Moose brainworm is almost always fatal.

"The weather had been so warm and this could have killed off some of the animals," LaBonte said.

By ERIK HESSELBERG