Friday, April 1, 2011

A Moose In Da Hoose?

$100,000 says there are still moose living in Fiordland!
NZ clothing company Hallensteins has put up the bounty for anyone who takes a picture of the elusive moose in its southern habitat.
The campaign was inspired by Ken Tustin, a moose hunter who has searched for moose for more than 30 years and written two books on the subject.
In 1910 ten young Canadian moose (mooses? meece? mice?) were released in isolated Fiordland, in hopes of starting a future sporting resource. Over the years, several were shot by hunters: the last confirmed kill was in 1952. No confirmed sightings since, and it was thought they'd died out.
But the debate's continued for the last 50 years and Tustin thinks he may have snapped a photograph of a juvenile moose on an automatic camera he set up.
< Add this latest pic to his pile of evidence - over the years, Ken's found footprints, an old antler, teeth marks on branches higher than where deer could reach, and got a blurry image on camera with the help of a documentary team. He's even had DNA testing done on hair follicles found in 2001/2002, which he claims proved to be from a moose.
He estimates up to 20 moose could be wandering around the area, but that's a total guess.
Hallensteins' six-week photo bounty launches on April 10. The answer to the $100,000 question may just be lurking under the canopy of 500 square km of impenetrable Fiordland bush... right beside the UFO landing pad.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ha! If i had not seen this in the news a few days ago, i would have thought it was an April Fools joke! But this search is for real. Good luck to them: they probably have more chance than finding the yeti.