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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Swedish elk starve after long harsh winter |
| 2011-03-14 |
| Five elk calves have been found starved to death in Värmland in central Sweden recently, with experts fearing that the drawn out harsh winter may claim further victims. Per Persson, an 85-year-old hunter living in northern Vämland, told the local Nya Wermlands-Tidningen (NWT) daily that he has never seen anything like it as the elk, rendered ravenous by the long period of snow-cover, seek to find food. "The elk eat everything they come across. They are even eating spruce, it has gone that far," he said, confirming that five dead elk calves have been found in the area. With the big thaw still a few weeks away, local authorities are warning that the food situation is set to remain parlous for the emaciated elk and more fatalities are to be expected. "The reserves of fat that they have built up have run out now. The population is going to decline significantly," Per Larsson, a county conservationist, told NWT. Global warming, eh? |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #8 No worries, one and all; I'm sure the odd starving lo-djur will prefer an emaciated älg, even full of Spruce, (which the Swedes would probably distil to Vodka), to a rootin', tootin' wild pig, Darwin@work.natural.selection. (And, from what I hear, gun ownership here depends on a required demonstrable level of responsibility, which most everyone atRantburg U would pass). |
| Posted by: Rhodesiafever 2011-03-14 20:19 |
| #7 Thought squirrels in Ohio just fell frozen off them trees. That's in the north, up Cleveland-way. Down here in the south, just across the Ohio river from Kentucky, things are very different. I haven't ever seen ice floes like the runaway slaves used to leap from, back when slaves ran away. At the rate things are going, though, both ice floes and slaves may soon return, although this time it won't be Africans, but taxpayers... or perhaps doctors. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-03-14 19:04 |
| #6 It's hard to assemble a complete squirrel form just a head and a tail. You trying to build a zombie squirrel? |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-03-14 18:23 |
| #5 Thought squirrels in Ohio just fell frozen off them trees. Not to worry, they would thaw out in spring. In the NorthWet, they have a different problem. My cat. It's hard to assemble a complete squirrel form just a head and a tail. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2011-03-14 16:02 |
| #4 That's nothing. This winter in Ohio has been so bad squirrels gnawed a hole in my aluminum siding. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-03-14 15:12 |
| #3 ~If they did issue hunting licenses, it might be enough to afford some winter feeding to stop the numbers dying off. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2011-03-14 11:32 |
| #2 Sounds like they need to issue more elk-moose tags for the fall hunting season. And don't let the poor things eat spruce - makes the meat taste like turpentine. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2011-03-14 08:42 |
| #1 The species we North Americans call elk, Cervus canadensis, is not what europeans call "elk". Our moose (Alces alces) is their "elk". Moose in Euroland get big but their bodies are typically slightly smaller than they get in N.A. or Siberia, and the racks are much smaller. Amazing that somehow facts that poke holes in the theories of AGW can somehow make it through the MSM filter regarding the issue. When they do, they need to be reposted everywhere. Light of day, cockroaches, etc. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2011-03-14 07:20 |