FAIRBANKS -- A dozen moose calves in the Fairbanks and Delta Junction area may have died this winter from a disease not previously recorded in connection with the death of an Alaska moose, according to a state wildlife veterinarian.
Some of the moose were examined shortly after they died in yards outside Fairbanks homes where residents saw sluggish young moose, said wildlife veterinarian Kimberlee Beckman with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The disease usually strikes calves and manifests itself late in the winter, after the calves are stressed and weakened, and they die quickly. The disease kills them within a few days of flaring up, Beckman said.
On a couple of occasions, the calves bedded down with a cow but didn't get up in the morning.
The moose may have been infected with a disease similar to Adenovirus Hemorrhage Disease of Deer, or AHD, a disease that is limited to the deer family. Humans are not at risk of contracting the disease.
Beckman said eight dead moose she examined had definite signs of the disease and two more had some indications of the disease. Two from the Delta area had lesions consistent with the disease, she said.
If AHD is present in Alaska moose, it could mean future restrictions on how moose are handled by the state, including adding an obstacle to plans for transplanting moose from high-population centers to boost populations elsewhere.
Gary Olson, founder and chairman of the Alaska Moose Federation, a driving force behind moose relocation plans, is not overly concerned by the news. He holds that nuisance moose cause millions in damage in urban areas when they could be transplanted to rebuild moose populations elsewhere.
"This just reiterates the fact that (moose calves) need to be carefully cared for, monitored, quarantined and that the program has to be done right," Olson said. "This is not a casual deal. We're not going to rush into anything."
While confirmation of the finding is pending, Beckman said the department will be immediately cautious until more is known.
AHD has been diagnosed in free-ranging mule deer, captive black-tailed deer and white-tailed deer on game farms in California and Iowa, as well as at animal rehabilitation centers in California.
Just five moose in zoos have been reported with the disease, including two calves at a single zoo in Ontario, according to a Fish and Game statement. In 1998, a single moose blood sample of 50 taken near Fairbanks contained the antibody to AHD.
Beckman is relatively sure of her finding but can not be certain until results return from samples sent to a veterinary lab at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
"I'm 90 percent there, but to absolutely prove it, you have to get it growing in a culture," she said. The lab in Iowa is one of only two in the country that can do the tests.
