Fitzphile:
"I think you nailed it. Cats win a close one."
Hopefully this week's moose sighting crusade will contribute the needed karma to get that projected win.
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.