Nature's balance has become unbalanced on Michigan's breathtaking Isle Royale.
Two wolves remain on the desolate national park, Kim Kozlowski of The Detroit News reports. Meanwhile, the island’s growing moose population is estimated at 1,300.
Professor Rolf Peterson of Michigan Technological University tells that paper that as a result of the shrinking wolf population, the island’s moose population is likely to keep growing unchecked. The island had about 500 moose in 2009 and 1,250 a year ago, while the wolf population peaked at 50 in 1980, Kozlowski writes.
“As we have been stating for several years, wolf predation has been virtually absent for several years, now five years,” Peterson says. “In the absence of limitation by wolves, the moose population is rapidly increasing, and there is concern that moose browsing may do long-term damage to the forests of Isle Royale.”
