Moose calf rescue blows up

[LittleLebowski]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/m...w-up-big-time/

TL;DR: Man finds orphan moose calf, does the "responsible" thing and calls Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Service (FWP). FWP shoots the calf and dynamites its and the mother's body in order to keep bears away.

Meanwhile in Alaska, folks seem to disagree with the FWP's assertion that moose calves cannot live without the mother.

Government knows best

[Kyle Reese]

I guess that kinda blew up in his face.

[Totem Polar]

A different kind of nitro express for big game stateside.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Sad - for some reason this reminds me of a story when I lived in the PNW. Farmer goes out into his field and finds a giant sturgeon trapped in an irrigation ditch. He calls Fish and Game. They say - well, kill it and you can have it. There is no way to get it back to the river. So he does.

Next day, they arrive and say they were wrong and confiscate the meat. Sturgeon is great eats. I wonder if that fish actually was disposed of?

[TAZ]

Sad - for some reason this reminds me of a story when I lived in the PNW. Farmer goes out into his field and finds a giant sturgeon trapped in an irrigation ditch. He calls Fish and Game. They say - well, kill it and you can have it. There is no way to get it back to the river. So he does.

Next day, they arrive and say they were wrong and confiscate the meat. Sturgeon is great eats. I wonder if that fish actually was disposed of?

I'm sure he FG staff had a great meal.

[texasaggie2005]

Ronald Reagan said it best;

The nine most terrifying words, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

[Chuck Haggard]

That kind of bureaucratic ineptitude should cost everyone involved their jobs.

[runcible]

What does everyone see as the best option available, given the circumstance presented?

[45dotACP]

I wonder what Pat Rogers would say?

[SLG]

I read both articles pretty carefully. Not sure where you can say that FWP was wrong. They may have been, idk, but the articles certainly seemed to support the idea that it is about impossible for a moose calf to survive on its own. They barely survive when taken care of by their mother, let alone people. Or the wild.

Having worked with MT FWP a fair bit over the years, they certainly have a mixed reputation in MT. I do know that they had to kill a horrible number of animals in my ao when I lived there. I also know they had no choice and that it was the right thing to do. Nonetheless, one guy I know can't bring himself to hunt anymore, having killed hundreds of injured pronghorn in a very short period of time. He used an M4, and ran out of magazines. He is a good shot. Terrible business, even when it's the right thing to do.