City moose not spooked by helicopter
Satellites collars used in tracking lives of 33 elk in Uusimaa
By Jere Malinen
A helicopter rises noisily into the morning sky from the parking area of Hotel Siikaranta in the Nuuksio National Park - a wilderness area in Espoo.
The task of the crew is to catch 33 elk (alces alces), or moose, and place a collar around their neck that emits a tracking signal to a satellite.
Such electronic neckwear has been placed on 54 of the animals in Kainuu, and 33 in Ostrobothnia.This is the first time that the movements of the elk have been studied this closely in Finland. The work in the south of the country began last Tuesday.
“It’s not working”, sighs Sauli Laaksonen into a radio as he looks out of the helicopter. He is a veterinarian specialised in elk, working for the Finnish Food Safety Authority.
During the hour that they spend in the air they can certainly see the moose, but the animals are staying put in the forest. The national park does not have the open swamps, fields, or clearing where tranquillising the animals from the helicopter would succeed.
The helicopter flies closer to Helsinki’s Market Square, but the problems continue. Three elk sprawl on rocks in the forest. Just 200 metres from them, children are playing in the yard of a house. These moose cannot be tranquillised, because they might wander in a semi-conscious state onto the nearby highway or into the yards of houses.
In Porkkalanniemi, Petri Timonen, head of research at the Game and Fisheries Research Institute, finally gets a “legitimate” elk in his sight.
Hanging halfway out of the helicopter he shoots a tranquilliser dart into the animal's rump.
“Aren’t they tame! He was just staring in wonder at the helicopter buzzing above.” Timonen compares the city moose with its country cousins, who will flee in blind panic at the sound of an approaching helicopter.
The elk slumps to the ground six minutes after the shooting. Its location is marked on a GPS device.
The helicopter lands on a forest vehicle road, and the researchers make a beeline for the moose, lying 500 metres away.
“I wonder if he will be snoring”, Laaksonen asks as they move ahead. Bull moose reportedly often did the same. Nevertheless, this female is lying calmly on the snow, with her eyes drooping.
As the humans approach, the moose raises her head with great dignity. In ten minutes the researchers put a band on the elk and give her an earmark. They measure the animal, and take samples of faeces, blood, and fur. The physical condition is ranked at 3.5. Four is the maximum.
“An elk in very good condition”, Laaksonen says.
Finally the veterinarian injects an antidote into the animal. Five minutes later the moose is running into the shelter of the forest - just as before, with the exception of the neck band worth EUR 1,000. She is given a number - 4479 - but no name.
Good luck and skill are on the side of the helicopter crew. In two days five elk in Porkkala get a neck band. A sixth meets up with the helicopter team in Söderkulla in Sipoo.
“If the flying weather and the moose favour us, we will be finished in two weeks”, says Tero Tuhkanen, the driver of the back-up car.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.2.2009
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 17.2.2009 - THIS WEEK |
 City moose not spooked by helicopter |
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