There is good news coming out of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), or at least I’ll take a different road this time, with a positive approach and say that a program by MDIFW to collar moose and study what causes mortality should be a good thing. If Lee Kantar can keep the brain dead “it’s-got-to-be-global-warming”, unscientific, ambulance chasers out of his office, I have a degree of confidence he can come up with answers. What the actual questions are, I’m not sure. But, by reading some of the “moose drool” (the term use is so fitting), one might be under the impression that Maine’s moose are all dead and/or dying because Minnesota, Montana and New Hampshire say they have a moose population in decline problem.
I find it odd that in Minnesota, for instance, officials there seem to have made a conclusion, at least a decade ago, that the moose were disappearing. Without lifting a single finger to determine, scientifically – no, not the new-science, outcome-based, pseudo-science speculation garbage lazy, mindless people love to swallow up and jump on the “True Believer” bandwagon – that it was a warming planet that was the root cause of a disappearing moose herd.
New Hampshire is trying a bit of a different approach. They are willing to admit that they think their moose population is shrinking but they think it is caused by the winter tick. Fear not, though. The reason the winter tick, according to their drivel, is because of global warming.
Lee Kantar must carry out his experiments with a real scientific approach, i.e. he is actually looking for THE answer not AN answer that quietly fits into a sky-is-falling narrative promoted by the Algorites (Al Gore’s global warming cultists).
However, his task will be extremely difficult because there may not exist anyone willing to take that approach, i.e. the real scientific one. If that’s not scary enough, Mr. Kantar might find I’m his only friend.
Even some of my colleagues in the outdoor writing business are getting caught up in winter ticks and global warming when it comes to discussions about Maine’s moose. V. Paul Reynolds, typically one who recognizes predation and places it quite accurately in moose and deer discussions, penned an article recently about the need to keep a close eye on Maine moose population, and yet not once mentioned or even hinted that predators should be considered. He was willing to write about the winter ticks. In fairness, the crux of the article dealt with MDIFW’s new program of collaring and studying moose mortality.
However, winter ticks were brought into the equation when Reynolds asked Kantar about ticks and Maine’s moose. Kantar was skeptical about how severely winter ticks were affecting the moose but hopes his study might answer some questions. This was exciting. Kantar didn’t seem to reveal he had made up his mind and intended to use the study to find answers; THE or AN, we’ll have to wait and see.
George Smith, in attempting to write something about moose populations and hunting permits, winter ticks and global warming, now seems relegated to hauling in the assistance of the Algorites and the National Wildlife Federation(NWF), (basically anti hunting and anti human) who still insist they are going to use man-caused global warming to raise money for their non scientific causes, in order to help him substantiate his claim that we’re all going to die…..right after the moose do.
Smith says because New Hampshire’s moose are declining and the NWF says warming is the culprit, along with New Hampshire’s claim that it’s the winter ticks due to global warming, Maine’s moose will also disappear.
Wouldn’t it be nice if someone actually asked the right questions and that Lee Kantar found THE answer…….if there is a question?
Consider a few things, if you can. With the immersion into moose drool that just seems to be oozing everywhere these days, non thinking leaves someone subjected to talking points, the majority of which have never been proven but that doesn’t stop the echo chambers from repeating it.
First consider that there are no firm answers to most questions about winter ticks. Theories abound and it is irresponsible as hell when people, and that includes fish and game officials, spend money and make major wildlife management plans based on speculative assumptions, i.e. global warming and winter ticks, i.e, abundant moose drool.
Second, we are being told that global warming is causing an increase in winter ticks which are killing moose. And yet how much of the garbage that is being spread has been proven? None. Again, speculation and assumptions. It’s part of Algorism (belief in Al Gore’s melting ice caps mythology). It’s the lazy person’s explanation for everything. Dang those ticks anyway!
Even information presented in the two articles I have linked to above, is unproven and some of it just plain doesn’t make any sense if you actually take some time to study and research about winter ticks.
It is claimed that a warming planet is what is behind what appears to be, or at least what the media wants us to believe, an increase in winter ticks and those ticks are killing moose. Repeatedly we are told that what is needed are a couple of good old snowy and cold winters to kill off the winter ticks. Nobody, evidently bothers to check. Sounds good, so I guess I’ll pass that on.
If you were to look at the life cycle of the winter tick, then perhaps you could ask some questions – like what really interrupts a tick’s life cycle – and understand that it’s not quite so cut and dry as to what will kill a winter tick, that is, enough to reduce the winter tick infestation and salvage a few more moose.
Many people have become so obsessed with global warming being the cause and effect of everything, the simple concept that too many of a species is often “self-regulated” by a reduction of numbers from disease. Simple math should tell us that the more moose that exist, the more chances tick larvae will find a winter host and survive and reproduce. But that seems to be absent from the conversation.
Maine recently announced there were at least 75,000 moose, up from the official previous count of around 30,000. So, at least double the moose and potentially double the ticks. But, it didn’t happen overnight.
Climate change does effect our ecosystems. They have since the beginning of time. Real science can give us some answers. Unproven suppositions and perpetuation of myths only achieves to further complicate an already complicated process.
Perhaps we will discover that winter ticks are the only thing negatively affecting Maine’s moose….or not. Perhaps we are in a natural cycle of climate that does offer the expansion of winter tick infestation….or not. Maybe what is happening has happened hundreds of times before……or not.
If Lee Kantar is a real scientist, with a clear, unbiased and unaffected from outside pressures kind of guy, with the objective to come up with answers that are true and not predetermined, valuable information can be obtained for the benefit of all. God knows it’s about time.
By-pass the moose drool. It might be entertaining to read but the onus is and always has been on the reader to seek the truth. By doing so, things really do seem to make a lot more sense. Try it. You might like it.
