Re: [at-l] Possums & More Animules

[Tim Hewitt <thewitt@fairchildsemi.com>]

Snodrog5@aol.com wrote:
> 
>  The most 'unusual' introduction attempt I know of was the helicoptering in 
> of Caribou to the top of Katahdin. In 1964 or 65 the Caribou were moved from 
> pens at the University of Maine to Baxter, and plunked down on the table 
> land. Sixty years after becoming extinct in Maine, Caribou were back! But not 
> for long. Later that winter a ranger took a ski-doo up to Baxter Peak looking 
> for tracks, but found none. What ever became of the small herd is unknown.
>  That part is true. The part of the story that says the folks around 
> Millinocket ate very well that winter is legend. 

My understanding of the leading theory on the loss of the Woodland 
Caribou in Maine in the first place, is that they were displaced 
by the white-tail deer. This displacement occurred in part due to 
a "poisoning" of the lichen that makes up the winter diet of the  
caribou. The lichen was tainted by a bacteria that the deer transported 
in their droppings. This bacteria contaminated the lichen and made it
indigestible to the caribou - it gives them severe diarrhea.

This bacteria has not gone away, so any future introduction of
the woodland caribou in Maine has to first deal with this problem
in their ecosystem. They simply cannot be let loose - their food
supply has to be dealt with first.

The deer population took off in part because of logging - more 
forage - and in part because they lost their main predator - the 
wolf. This explosion of the deer population led to wide ranging 
contamination of the caribou's major winter food source, and their 
ultimate starvation and death by dehydration.

The Woodland or Mountain Caribou do not form large groups like
the Barren Ground Caribou of the far north. They stay in small
family groups and do not mass migrate as their northern cousins
do. They are considered the most endangered large mammal on the 
continent.

In another interesting aside, the wolf and the fox will coexist
quite nicely. The wolf and the coyote will not. The coyote and
the fox will not coexist, thus with the wolf exterminated in Maine, 
the deer population is out of control, the coyote population is out
of control, the caribou are gone, and the fox population is 
fading.

Yes, I support bringing the wolf back to Maine in case you couldn't
tell. It should lead to more controlled deer and coyote populations,
as well as an increase in the fox population. Who knows, maybe Maine
can again serve as home to the Woodland Caribou, once the deer are
under control.

-p

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