PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 28, 2023
A state biologist says new data from Maine’s moose-collar study shows encouraging signs in an area of the state where moose have been ravaged for years by parasitic winter ticks. Lee Kantar, Maine’s moose biologist, told a state committee Tuesday that only two of the 69 moose calves collared in Wildlife Management District 4 in northwestern Maine have died this winter. That compares to 61 of 70 collared calves who died in the study area last year because of winter tick infestation. Based on this year’s early data, the mortality rate plunged from 87% to less than 3%. Maine has the highest density of moose in the contiguous United States.