Friday, 24 June 2011
Water Horse Continued: New Zealand Moose
From Tony Lucas' NZ Cryptozoology blog:
Moose - Alces alces andersoni, were imported from Saskatchewan Canada, into the South Island by the New Zealand Acclimatisation Society as a sporting animal along with red deer in the early 20th century.
These animals supposedly failed to establish, and yet sightings persisted and evidence of their continued presence continued.
The initial introduction occurred in 1900 when four animals from Canada were released in Hokotika. The initial release was supposed to have been fourteen animals but ten died on the voyage from Canada.
Out of these four animals only one was a cow, and was said to wander the streets of a local settlement until 1914 when it was no longer seen.
These animals were presumed to have not survived and a further release was planned.
This occurred on the 6th of April 1910, when six female and four male, ten month old calves were released in Supper Cove in Dusky Sound.
It was believed these animals died out due to the competition from Red Deer - Cervus elaphus, however a small number must have persisted as reports of physical traces and sightings continued. These sightings became quite prevalent between 1929 and 1952.
Herrick Creek was one spot where a bull moose was reportedly shot by one Eddie Herrick in 1934.
This was one of a dozen animals reportedly shot between 1910 and 1952.
[Only two of these were actually licensed hunts. Afterward the restriction was lifted and any moose that were killed did not require any license for hunting them-DD]
The last one sighted and shot in 1952 was presumed to have spelt the end of the establishment of a moose population in New Zealand, in fact it would have been the only population of wild Moose in the Southern Hemisphere.
Nothing more was heard of the Moose apart from rumour and speculation until a possible sighting in 1971 sparked a hunt for a possible surviving population of these enigmatic animals.
More physical proof came to light in 1972 when an antler, definitely moose was found.
Ken Tustin was charged with finding out if they still existed on the insistence of the New Zealand Forest Service in 1972.
Research conducted by Mr Tustin suggested that a small population may have inhabited the Dusky Sound area.
This was based on prints, droppings, antler casts and signs of grazing.
No actual sightings of the animals were however forthcoming.
The thick bush in the area kept them well hidden.
Mr Tustin did not give up the search and in 1995 a picture was taken of a possible female at Herrick Creek. A single frame from a video clip showed what appeared to be the retreating figure, regrettably the image was not a clear one due to the video being in time-lapse mode which causes some distortion to the picture.
The outline and stance of the animal however were quite convincing.
A hair sample was found in 2000 and subjected to DNA testing. The test confirmed it was definitely Moose hair
Further evidence of their continued existence was found in 2001 when two hunters came across some more hair.
This sample came from Shark Cove on the southern side of Dusky Sound and was again confirmed as Moose hair.
Another hair sample was found by Mr Tustin in October 2002, snagged at waist height on some tree bark, this too was subjected to DNA testing and proved to be of Moose origin.
The hairs were collected opposite Oke Island.
Though no actual sightings have occurred since the 1971 one, there is plenty of physical evidence for the existence of these animals.
These animals seem to be confined to the Dusky Sound area.
Bedding spots and physical evidence suggest up to 20 animals may live there ( Otago Daily Times 06.10.05).
Although the population is small these animals seem to be holding their own, though regrettably they have not been granted protection and are still able to be subjected to the hunters gun.
If these animals are to survive they need the protection to establish a stable population, which could be possible considering the number taken by hunters early in their introduction.
The area in which they live is heavy bush and this has impeded visual sightings, but the evidence is there that this species holds on in their remote piece of Fiordland.
nzherald.co.nz
news.com.au
canada.com
However there is also evidence of earlier introductions of moose into New Zealand, probably from unrecorded agents. Quoting Charles Fort in Lo!
"The volcano Rotomahana was a harsh, black cup that had spilled scenery. Or the sombre thing was a Puritan in finery. It had belied its dourness with two broad decorations of siliceous deposits, shelving down to its base, one of them the White Terrace and the other the Pink Terrace. These gay formations sloped [103/104] from the bare, black crater to another inconsistency, which was a grove of acacias. All around, the famous flowering bushes of this district made more sinful contrast with a gaunt, towering thing. Upon the 10th of June, 1886, this Black Fanatic slung a constitutional amendment. It was reformation, in the sense that virtue is uniformity that smothers variation. It drabbed its gay Terraces: the grove of acacias was a mound of mud: it covered over the flowering bushes with smooth, clean mud. It was a virtuously dismal scene, but, as in all other reformations, a hankering survived in it. A left-over living thing made tracks in the smoothness of mud. In the New Zealand Herald, Oct. 13, 1886, a correspondent writes of having traversed this dull, dead expanse, having seen it marked with the footprints of a living creature.(5) He thought that the marks were a horse's. But there was another story that was attracting attention at this time, and his letter was an allusion to it. Maoris were telling of a wandering animal, unknown to them, that had appeared in this desert of mud. It was a creature with antlers, or a stag, according to descriptions, an animal that had never been seen, or had never before been seen, by Maoris. "
The animal the size of a horse was more likely a moose, and this was twenty years before it is admitted there was a plan to introduce moose into New Zealand for hunting.
I need hardly point out that all of this situation regarding the continued survival of introduced moose outside of the public eye is exactly the sort of thing as I am proposing for introduced moose in Scotland: at the time the moose was introduced into New Zealand for hunting, enthusiasts were also targeting Scotland for the same plan with the same goal in mind. And please notice that the New Zealand moose were hunted for many years but only two licensed trophy hunts for moose were counted officially: In Scotland ALL of the other kills would have counted as "poaching." So it is easy to see how most of such incidents would have been hushed up. (Some famous trophy mooseheads do adorn some Scottish hunting-lodges as well)
There is also a possibility that Loch-Ness-Style Water Monster reports had begun in the Fjordlands as a result from the introduction of moose into the area. Ivan Sanderson had indications of typical string-of-buoys reports in the Fjordlands lakes (albeit without elaboration in his files and basically going on the say-so of newspaper collectors of reports) and when I discussed the matter with Tony Lucas, he said there were indeed such reports, but with vague details and as unverified reports so far as he knew. In the 1950s and 1969s, reports were still coming in uncommonly, but in the 1970s the monster "Lakey" had a brief flap of reports, according to the Wikipedia entry on Lake Monster reports in general. The links above in referring to the New Zealand moose often place it on a par with Ogopogo or the Loch Ness Monster, as seen by the skeptical local community, but it seems in fact that the New Zealanders inadvertantly introduced Ogopogo and Loch-Ness-Monster type string-of buoys reports as a consequence of their introductions of the Water Horse, ie, the moose.
The same passage in Lo! just happens to include another report of a New Zealand Water-Monster, Which is taken to be an unusually aggressive Waitoreke on some of the Cryptozoology websites which mention it, in effect the New Zealand Master-Otter. Not what we were discussing here but worth a mention by the way:
New Zealand Times, May 9, 1883 -- excitement near Masterton -- unknown creature at large -- curly hair, short legs, and broad muzzle.(4) Dogs sent after it -- one of the dogs flayed by it -- rest of the dogs running away -- probably "with their tails between their legs," but the reporter overlooking this convention.
And the same passage also mentions a Canadian-borderline Water-Monster by way of variety, only this time again it seems to have been a swimming moose AKA a Water-Horse:
New York Sun, Aug. 19, 1886 -- a horned monster, in Sandy Lake, Minnesota. More details in the London (Ontario) Advertiser -- Chris. Engstein fired a shot at it, but missed.
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