Syracuse.com - Scat-sniffing dogs giving researchers clues to state's moose population

[HuntingNY-News]

The DEC estimates there are 800 to 1,000 moose in the Adirondacks.

Bob Walker photo

(SARANAC LAKE/The Associated Press)

Scat-sniffing dogs are giving Adirondack researchers clues to upstate New York’s moose population.

Researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Society in Saranac Lake hired Working Dogs for Conservation in Three Forks, Mont., to find moose droppings in the Adirondack starting in 2008. They sent the scat to a genetics lab along with samples from neighboring states and Canada.

Biologist Heidi Kretser tells the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that there’s a distinct genetic difference between samples from north and south of the St. Lawrence River. New York moose genetics were more similar to that of cousins from Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Kretser says scat studies could help the state Department of Environmental Conservation measure the moose population.

The DEC estimates there are 800 to 1,000 moose in the Adirondacks.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog