MOOSE ON CAPE BRETON ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA: 20TH CENTURY DEMOGRAPHICS AND EMERGING ISSUES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

• Main Authors: Bridgland, James, Nette, Tony, Dennis, Charlie, Quinn, Derek
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Lakehead University 2007
• Subjects: Breton Island; Canada; First Nations
• Online Access: http://alcesjournal.org/index.php/alces/article/view/365

Presumed extirpated in the early 1900s, moose were re-introduced to Cape Breton Island by the federal Park Service in the late 1940s. After 25 years of gradual growth the population expanded rapidly following a spruce budworm outbreak in the mid- to late-1970s, yielding a large huntable population by the mid-1980s. Continued growth of the herd has presented a number of management challenges and opportunities to the Province of Nova Scotia, the local First Nations, and Parks Canada, each seeking to maintain sustainable moose numbers from different perspectives. Presented here is a history of population growth and exploitation of moose on Cape Breton in the latter 20th Century, the evolution of cooperative management of the herd, and emerging management issues.