The report, titled “Nowhere to Run: Big Game Wildlife in a Warming World,” concludes that climate change is the biggest threat now facing deer, moose and other so called “big game” across the U.S. “We’re seeing impacts on species from moose, such as in Maine and New Hampshire, all the way across the country to pronghorn and mule deer, as well as whitetail deer, believe it or not,” says Dr. Doug Inkley, the National Wildlife Federation‘s senior scientist, and lead author of the report.
The report concludes that the warming world is making conditions favorable for insects and parasites that are killing these large animals in the southern extremes of their natural range.
“Think of the deer tick and Lyme disease: The range of the deer tick is expected to expand by 50 percent to the north up into Canada over the next 50 or so years,” Dr. Inkley says. “It also is going to increase the number of ticks in these areas, and therefore increase the risk of exposure of people to Lyme disease when they’re out enjoying the outdoors, as they always have.”
And for moose in New Hampshire, ticks are taking a toll. “Over the last decade, we’ve had a 40 percent decline in our moose population, dropping from about 7,500 moose in the late 90’s to about 4,400 moose now,” says Eric Orff, a former state wildlife biologist in New Hampshire who now serves as that state’s outreach consultant for the National Wildlife Federation. Read on…..
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