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Moose soon on the loose
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December 17th, 2014
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Swedish moose to be introduced to Danish protected area
In a growing trend of new animal species coming to Denmark and others returning, the moose is also set to come back after an absence of nearly 5,000 years, reports Jyllands-Posten.
In the early spring of 2016, a little more than a dozen Swedish moose will be reintroduced into the wild in the country's largest protected land area in Lille Vildmose, southeast of Aalborg.
The initial population of a few bulls, a few cows and between eight and ten calves is being collected from four Swedish wildlife parks to ensure genetic variation for future populations. The initial group is expected to be the breeding backbone of a stock of between 30 and 40 moose.
Sweden is home to a herd of roughly 300,000 moose, and while there have been instances of the animal swimming over from Sweden, none have stayed. In only one such instance, a moose made Zealand its home for 10 months from 1999 to 2000.
READ MORE: More animals spreading to Denmark
Preparing the area
”Beginning next spring, the park will begin installing a 30-kilometre fence that will encircle a 2,100 acre area for the moose,” Roar Poulsen, a project manager with the Park and Nature Department in Aalborg, told Jyllands-Posten.
However, before setting the moose loose in the area where other deer will be grazing, Poulsen explains they will build a smaller fenced-in area for the moose to get acclimatised to the terrain.
Lille Vildmose is an area that is finally ”recovering” after many decades of drainage and peat extraction and is developing into a ”marshland with lakes and adjacent to natural forests”, explained Poulsen.
This is the type of environment a moose enjoys, he said, and the presence of the new animal will also help the continued recovery of the preservation area, which is overrun with ”an impoverished birch forest and tall thickets of aspen and willow”.
Poulsen explains that using a large grass-feeding animal like a moose coupled with its ability to move in wet and soft ground makes it a better and more natural way to keep the area clear, rather than using machines and power tools.
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