Outdoors/Adventure

Feeding hungry moose is a fundraising bonanza

I don't wake up every morning thinking of ways to badger the Alaska Moose Federation (AMF). But honest to Pete, I keep hearing things they've said or done that violate the scientific principles of good moose management and plain common sense. One of their latest ideas involves feeding moose, and to do that they'd like to get donations from everyone, including elementary school children.

In early February, the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation legitimized the moose-feeding idea by giving Gary Olson, the AMF's executive director, a permit. Olson hopes to lure moose away from the Parks Highway and other highways in Southcentral Alaska by establishing feeding stations and stocking them with haylage. Haylage is an animal feed that is halfway between hay and silage.

An excellent fundraising opportunity

Many moose starve to death every winter, but it's no secret that this winter has been harder than usual on moose in Southcentral Alaska. The news has made international headlines, with the Alaska Moose Federation taking most of the credit for "protecting the species." Anchorage has been bludgeoned with about nine feet of snow this winter, a near-record accumulation, and surrounding areas have experienced similar amounts. Although much of the snow has dissipated or settled, it is still belly-deep on moose winter ranges. More moose than usual will starve to death this winter.

When snow gets deep, moose will walk along cleared roads and trails to conserve precious energy. So more moose have been killed in collisions with motor vehicles this winter. At least 394 moose were killed by vehicles in the Mat-Su Valley by mid-February, compared with 270 in an average winter. The AMF sees this as an excellent fundraising opportunity.

The organization is not shy about asking for money. Allstate has pledged $50,000 for the AMF's diversionary feeding program this winter, and the organization has asked BP, Exxon, Chugach Electric, the Alaska Railroad and other sponsors with deep pockets for additional money. Olson is circulating a letter asking for $616,000 in "emergency funding" to pay for diversionary feeding the rest of this winter. He's promised to ask state agencies to pony up additional funds.

The state may have the deepest pockets of all, and it has been a big fat target for the AMF's supplemental funding requests. In 2006 the Alaska Legislature gave the AMF $50,000 to move orphaned moose calves out of Anchorage. Last year the AMF upped the ante by securing $1,304,500 for "rescuing" and relocating moose calves and $573,800 for salvaging moose hit by vehicles. Expect additional requests for those programs in the future. Olson also plans to ask the Legislature for another $1,500,000 for a mobile classroom to educate children about moose, moose safety, and predator-prey relationships.

Asking school kids for money

Every day in Anchorage and other Alaska communities, moose wander onto school grounds. Elementary schools have a plan for playground moose. It usually involves keeping the kids indoors during recess and close adult supervision when kids are coming and going.

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So, in late January, when Aquarian Charter School in midtown Anchorage discovered a cow and calf on their grounds, the principal kept the elementary-aged kids inside during the school day. For four days. Looking for a remedy, the principal, Sue Forbes, called the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Alaska Moose Federation. The AMF returned her call first.

Olson didn't help her with the two moose. Instead he told her about the AMF's plan to feed hungry moose, starting in the Mat-Su Valley. Olson called her back to tell her he had just received a permit from Fish and Game to provide haylage to lure the moose off the roads. A bale of haylage costs $50. He told Forbes he had received $50,000 from Allstate. But he could use more money. Olson convinced the principal it was for a good cause: saving moose and reducing the risk of motor vehicle collisions.

The idea for a classroom fundraiser was introduced at a meeting of Aquarian school's parents and teachers. The group decided it would be a nice community outreach to collect donations for the feeding program. Forbes followed district protocol and consulted her executive supervisor, who also thought the idea was a good one. Forbes challenged every classroom to raise at least five bales for the AMF. The classroom with the most bales would win an "all Alaskan fun day," including a visit to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage, a pizza lunch in Girdwood, and gold panning at Indian Valley Mine. Paper "bales" would be posted outside each classroom to represent the number of haylage bales that each class's donations would purchase. Olson asked if television news crews could come to the school for publicity. Initially, Forbes thought that was a good idea. But her enthusiasm ebbed like a Cook Inlet tide when some parents began to express serious concerns.

Not every parent was convinced that diversionary feeding is a good idea for moose, and some wondered why it was chosen over a slew of other worthy causes. But the final straw snapped when the AMF asked parents to make their checks out to Alaska Village Initiatives, a tax-deductible charitable organization. The AMF shares an office with Alaska Village Initiatives in Anchorage. The AMF is not a tax-deductible charitable organization. At best this seems to be a way to launder the donations, giving them to a tax-exempt organization with the expectation that the money will be passed on to another cause that doesn't have tax-exempt status.

Enough kinetic energy was generated last week that Forbes cancelled the classroom contest and nixed the publicity. She removed the notice of the fundraiser from the school's website. Initially, Forbes had considered challenging other schools to raise funds for the diversionary feeding program. However, after consulting with parents and her supervisors, she decided not to do so.

Forbes said the fundraiser has raised a few thousand dollars so far. She thinks parents might ultimately contribute about $5,000. However, she's not sure now if she'll give the money to the AMF. She's asked to see the AMF's financial records before she decides. No one can blame the school or the kids for launching into the fundraiser or for having second thoughts. As Forbes said, "We went into it with good faith." And, by all accounts, Olson is a very persuasive fundraiser.

Feeding moose may not save moose

Olson is surfing a fundraising crest this winter caused by higher than normal moose mortality. Roadkills are an egregious form of mortality. Not only does the moose die but there is often serious property damage, and people can be injured or killed in the collision. Over 800 moose have been killed by vehicles in Southcentral Alaska already this winter, about twice the normal rate. Olson has proposed diversionary feeding to lure moose away from roads. In a simple world this might make sense. But in practicing the art and science of wildlife management, one and one don't always equal two.

Many professional wildlife biologists in Alaska have serious reservations about feeding hay or similar unnatural foods to wild moose in winter. But every time a particularly severe winter comes along, with news reports about starving moose piling up like the drifting snow, the public demands that the government do something to save the moose. This is one of those winters.

Moose can eat haylage if it is introduced gradually into their diet, for example in captivity. The problem is, a moose's digestive system is sensitive to change and the bacteria in their rumen that digest cellulose are adapted to a certain mix of foods. In winter most moose are eating deciduous woody plants, but hay is a grass and is very different. Wild moose are nutritionally stressed in winter, and switching to a completely new food may kill some of them. Moose have died in Alaska with their rumens full of hay, and other states have had the same experience with members of the deer family.

Many states and Canadian provinces have supplemented the natural forage of deer, elk and moose for decades. Increasingly, research and cost-benefit analyses have shown that these well-intentioned programs were ill-advised (.pdf). Other states' wildlife agencies have begun to restrict or prohibit supplemental feeding programs.

The Wildlife Management Institute – a private, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization dedicated to the conservation and professional management of North America's wildlife – has produced a brochure on supplemental feeding. Feeding Wildlife – Just Say NO! concludes, "When and where such feeding is done, it is undertaken only, if not expressly for the interest of people, because fed animals almost invariably will not benefit and will very likely be harmed by the practice." The Wildlife Society, the scientific society for professional wildlife biologists, has adopted a position statement (.pdf) that encourages states to phase out supplemental feeding.

Many supplemental and "emergency" feeding programs are intended to keep moose populations at levels higher than the environment can support. Such is the case in the Mat-Su Valley, where about 8,000 moose were found last fall, which is about 1,500 more than the population goal.

The AMF believes it knows best

Alaska's moose are relatively healthy compared to moose in the contiguous states and Canada. Moose in those states die from an assortment of diseases. One of the most worrisome is chronic wasting disease, a disease similar to mad cow disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep. It was first identified in deer and elk in Colorado about four decades ago and has since infected moose and spread to at least 18 other states and two Canadian provinces.

Chronic wasting disease has been found in game farms in most of these states and provinces and is most likely to spread in similar crowded situations. Experimental and circumstantial evidence suggest the disease can be transmitted by saliva, feces, or urine an infected animal has deposited on vegetation and dust. This is a devastating disease to members of the deer family. No treatment is known, and the disease is typically fatal. State wildlife agencies are on high alert, and are monitoring hunter kills and road-kills. However, there is little or no oversight of the AMF's diversionary feeding program.

Wildlife diseases can be spread by well-meaning individuals just like those in the AMF. Chronic wasting disease was established in New York state by a taxidermist who had handled infected hides or other animal parts and was hand-rearing orphaned deer fawns. And supplemental feeding by private citizens appears to have transmitted chronic wasting disease to free-ranging deer and elk in Fort Collins, Colorado (.pdf).

Forbes's newsletter told parents that the haylage the AMF planned to use "is produced in Canada and sold by a local vendor at the reindeer farm." She confirmed that's what Olson told her. At about the same time Olson told a reporter that the haylage was grown at Point MacKenzie.

The only reindeer farm in the Mat-Su Valley, Williams Reindeer Farm, said its haylage comes from Point MacKenzie and that's what they sold to the AMF last week. It's possible that Olson didn't know what he was talking about. But it's also possible that he has considered buying haylage from Canada. Feeding moose haylage from Canada could increase the risk of transmitting diseases. Even locally grown haylage may be contaminated with infectious diseases from domestic livestock.

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A much cheaper solution

Olson has been distributing a scientific article with evidence that diversionary feeding has kept some moose away from highways in Norway (.pdf), although those authors and others are not convinced the method is cost-effective (.pdf). As in Alaska, vehicle collisions kill a lot of moose in Scandinavia. But the environments of Alaska and Scandinavia are very different.

Alaska has lots of wolves, which are rare in Scandinavian countries. Wolf numbers in Norway are approved by their parliament and strictly controlled. The entire country had only 30-40 wolves at the beginning of this winter. Concentrating moose at feeding stations will make it easier for wolves to find and kill them, particularly if the feeding station is located near the territorial boundaries of several packs.

It's a little too late in the winter for diversionary feeding to do moose or motorists much good. Most of the moose killed on roads in Alaska are hit in October through January. By February, moose aren't moving much and there are fewer to hit. Most of the moose killed by vehicles are hit by commuters driving to and from work in the dark. It's getting light earlier and staying light later.

Something else the AMF probably hasn't thought through is what happens when you encourage kids to feed moose. They are more likely to do it on their own. I realize a diversionary feeding program is different from tossing a moose an apple, but you can't expect a first grader to understand the difference. Feeding moose is illegal and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has expended a lot of effort to educate people that it's a bad idea. Now the AMF is telling kids and their parents it's a good idea?

People who love moose can do much more to save them this winter and every winter by being more vigilant while driving and by slowing down 5-10 miles per hour on any road with a speed limit of 45 mph or higher, especially when the roads are icy or it's dark outside. If you see a moose standing near the road, you should assume that it will attempt to step in front of your moving vehicle and drive accordingly. I wish the AMF would start promoting this concept and let the kids save their money for a worthier cause.

Former state wildlife biologist Rick Sinnott retired in 2010 after nearly 30 years with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He was known during his time with the state for his outspokenness on wildlife issues -- particularly the way Anchorage residents interact with urban wildlife. Contact him at rickjsinnott(at)gmail.com

Alaska Dispatch encourages a diversity of opinion and community perspectives. The opinions expressed herein are those of the contributor and are not necessarily endorsed or condoned by Alaska Dispatch.

Rick Sinnott

Rick Sinnott is a former Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist. Email him: rickjsinnott@gmail.com

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