There has been an increase in reported moose sightings on residential and rural properties throughout Mountain View County following the recent large dumps of snow, promoting officials to warn of the dangers of unwanted encounters.
"We are getting a lot of moose going into people's yards and getting close to the public,î said Adam Mirus, fish and wildlife officer for the Sundre and Olds district.
"This winter I expect calls to increase just because of the amount of snow and temperatures that we're having and it's just going to create more potential conflict between wildlife and humans.
"With the deep snow they're going to start going to places that don't have deep snow, which will be driveways and that kind of stuff.î
Moose encounters can be dangerous, and he encourages people not to approach them or allow their pets or children to approach them.
"We're just telling everyone to be cautious. What we don't want people doing is allowing their dogs to chase them or anything like that because they will kick them,î he said.
There have been recent cases across the province where dogs have been kicked by moose.
"The moose will put up with it for the first or second time but at some point in time they will take a stand and kick them.î
Cow moose can be violent when they are with their calf or calves.
"The cow is always going to protect its calf,î he said.
"We've had officers dealing with moose in that type of situation where the officer has been charged by a moose. They can be dangerous.î
Within the county, moose are most common in the Didsbury, Carstairs and Sundre areas, he said.
Moose head into town to get away from snow, but also because they are attracted to ornamental trees.
"They come in for those ornamental trees that they necessarily don't see out in their regular habitat and they come in and they feed on those,î he said.
Deer also venture into town, especially after a snowfall, to find food.
"Deer aren't too much of an issue. Moose are the ones that can be dangerous because they are so big,î he said.
Moose, deer and elk have been reported feeding on haystacks in the rural areas because the snow is too deep to scavenge for food as they normally would. Farmers are encouraged to use propane Zon guns to avoid this.
"What they are is a big propane cylinder and they fire off a loud bang and they're on a timer,î he said.
"Other solutions that we have for deer, moose and elk, long-term wise, is we can do things like increase hunting quotas just so we can manage the population better.
"But we find that when we get bad winters like this then it compounds the problem, because rather than just a few going to a stack, with this amount of snow they all kind of do.î
If the farmer creates a "stack yardî and places bales together it makes it more difficult for wildlife to feed on them, he said.
"If you leave all your bales out in the field where they come off the baler then obviously they are more susceptible to the animals feeding off them,î he said.
"If you see a few rows of bales you have to look at those and say ëOK if you were a deer or a moose, can you feed just on the outside, or if there is two or three feet of space in between those bales'. Because what that kind of creates is like a shopping store where they just have lanes to walk down and feed on everything.
"They could also outline their hay bales with straw bales, one or two tiers high, and then that kind of creates a buffer between the deer, elk, moose and the hay, because they won't eat the straw.î
There is an elk-hunting season from January 1 to 20, he noted.
"If farmers are having problems with elk they can call our office and we can put them in contact with a hunter who has been drawn for elk,î he said.
If moose are a public safety concern then people are advised to call their local fish and wildlife office or the Report a Poacher 24-hour hotline at 1-800-642-3800.
Calls into the fish and wildlife office are dealt with by order of public safety.
"We base our calls on public safety because public safety is number 1 and from there we go down the line,î he said.
"An injured deer on the side of the road isn't going to be as high a priority as a moose near a school ground.
"If the animal is showing aggression whatsoever, we will have to remove them. What type of removal kind of weighs on what the circumstances bring to the situation. If we have a moose that's charging people and that kind of stuff we might not be able to immobilize it and move it. We might just have to put it down, which obviously public safety is number 1.î
If a moose is a problem in town, officers will try to scare it out of town by using rubber bullets, beanbag bullets and other techniques. However, the circumstances are different for a rural property owner.
"A moose on an acreage out in the middle of the county won't be a high priority of course, unless it's a public safety issue,î he said.
"But even then we can't go and immobilize and move a moose that's on an acreage. Where are you going to take it? It's just in its natural habitat. So then our only option is to put it down.
"And I'd rather not do that if we don't have to, because our moose population isn't significant enough to handle a large hit from having to be removed from the population permanently.î
