A lobby group says a new plan to reduce conflicts between moose and people in eastern Canada will continue to risk lives because it does not include more fencing along highways.
The eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador has the world’s greatest concentration of the large mammals. Because their legs are so long, the bulk of a moose is at a car’s windshield level, and collisions can be devastating.
There are between 500 and 600 collisions between moose and vehicles every year in this province alone, resulting in five to 10 serious injuries and on average, one human death.
The provincial government has updated a moose management plan, but the Save Our People Action Committee says it is very disappointed it did not accede to the group’s request for more fencing. This kind of barrier was already built along sixteen kilometers of road as a pilot project.
The government says more fencing is under consideration. The new five-year plan will however increase hunting quotas in areas along the Trans-Canada Highway that have a high density moose population.
The province has looked at several other methods of keeping moose off the highways with little success.
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