Community joins in for Moose sightings to give Wildcats Mojo Moose Karma this week

[Alaskawildkat]

Monday and Tuesday, the whole town got involved in the Moose sightings for the Wildcat karma thing:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - State wildlife managers want to know how many moose roam the Anchorage bowl, and at this point they really don't know what the true number is. "We have never had a really good idea of how many moose live in the Anchorage bowl" said Dave Battle, AK Dept. of Fish & Game wildlife biologist. "The best that we've ever been able to do is educated guesses because there's never really been a technique that would allow us to count the moose in the Anchorage bowl.

Bull Moose checks whether weather has delayed delivery! KathleenBarth - Anchorage 11-16-16
Aerial counts don't always work because of bad weather conditions and flight restrictions, which is why Fish & Game biologists are testing a new method of surveying moose on the ground, and that's where the public comes in.

On February 26 and 27, citizens are invited to report moose sightings within the Anchorage bowl. Researchers will then go to those locations and try to collect DNA samples from as many moose as they can. A small skin biopsy will be taken with darts designed to lightly strike a moose, collect a sample in the tip, and fall to the ground.

 

[Deeringfish]

It is about time we get a moose involved in locking this bid down.

 

[Alaskawildkat]

As a follow up the Fish & Game got over a 100 calls for Moose Sightings and were able to respond to about half of them with half of those resulting in the moose still being in the vicinity and being successfully sampled. Hopefully that adds up to a lot of karma for the Wildcats.

Alaska News
How many moose live in Anchorage? For the first time, residents help biologists count

In Anchorage, moose are everywhere.

"We had 134 calls, between voicemails and emails. Oh, plus the texts," Saalfeld said, sitting in a ground-floor office turned control center at Fish and Game headquarters on Raspberry Road. "And we have more coming in."

A worker listening to moose-sighting voicemails from the public handed back a new list, with addresses and a brief description. ("Moose outside of condo" and "moose eating my tree" were two reports.)

But the work had been slower and more painstaking than anticipated: Some of the moose were gone by the time the teams arrived. In a few cases, the darted moose didn't run away and the team had to wait for a safe distance to grab the sample.

By the end of the first day, Saalfeld had dispatched 43 roving teams to check out timely sightings, out of more than 100 calls. Only 25 moose had been darted.

Link for the full reporting:


https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/wil...e-first-time-locals-help-biologists-find-out/

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Although deservedly lost in the noise, the massive moose sighting effort this week proved timely.

Looks like the Mojo Moose Karma is alive and well for The Wildcats! A deserved miracle win to punch the ticket into The NCAA Tournament.

Congratulations to the players, coachs, and fans.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

We are playing dam good basketball lately with da moose!