Global Warming Devastating Minnesota's Moose Population?

                 An article in the Sunday, February 7^th, Minneapolis StarTribune purported to chronicle the decline of Northern Minnesota’s moose population. The headline, on the front page above the fold, read: “Can Our Moose Be Saved?” A small banner above that alerted readers that this was a “Special Report.”

                Make no mistake, I “like” moose and wish them no harm. I hope they can and will be saved, if, in fact, they are in need of saving. The article went on to list the alleged reasons for the recent decline in that area’s moose population, highlighting everything from wolf predation to parasite infestations. And then, predictably, it arrived at the “real” culprit: climate change. It bluntly stated that these animals don’t do well in higher temperatures, especially in winter (emphasis mine). So, moose don’t do well in the higher coldest yearly temperatures, but do alright in summer when it is 70, 80, 90 degrees? You really want us to believe that it is easier for the moose in 40 to 50 degree below zero weather like this area experienced 2 and 3 winters ago, and if it’s, say, 89 degrees, than it is if the temperature is 30 or 40 degrees??! Come on.

                The article referenced a DNR researcher who “found” that, in the winter, “the more often temperatures are above 23 degrees (not 22 or 24!), the worse off moose are nutritionally and added “In short, at higher temperatures they don’t seem to eat enough.” The researcher added, that even when they are near a “smorgasbord” of good forage, “If it’s too warm, it doesn’t matter.” Yet, later on, the article allowed as how moose are gaily roaming around the “far warmer plains” of North Dakota and agricultural regions of Alberta, Canada.

                To recap: these learned scientists, these exalted experts,  would have us believe that when the temperature is 29 degrees above zero moose just can’t motivate themselves to stave off starvation like they can if it’s 29 degrees below zero or 79 degrees above zero.

                Belief in man-caused global warming does seem to be leading to a drastic decline… in logic.