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“Every creature is better alive than dead,
Men and Moose and Pine Trees,
And he who understands this,
Would rather preserve life, than destroy it.”

Henry David Thoreau

Music: All Is Gone

Sadness fills my heart and soul
As I read a recent wildlife magazine
Another wondrous forest creature
May soon vanish, and become extinct

The magnificent northwood moose
Its numbers are declining drastically
It needs extremely frigid temperatures
Yet another climate change catastrophe

Tiny deadly parasites may be the main cause
Warmer temperatures, allowing them to thrive
As I sit in my living room pondering this report
I sadly wonder how long the moose will survive

I also sit here recalling so many wondrous encounters
With these creatures of the northwood, on many a day
I have observed them swimming in magnificent blue lakes
I’ve watched them feeding, nurturing their young, and at play

I can't imagine the glorious green forests of the great northwood
Depleted of yet one more, of North America’s magnificent creatures
Sadness encompasses both my heart and my soul, pondering all of this
Destruction of earth and her wildlife–truly mankind’s very worst feature

Often tipping the scales at nearly 1,000 pounds and standing 6-feet tall, moose are iconic in my beloved northwood, and glimpsing one still thrills many a northwood resident and tourist alike. They have thrilled me since my early childhood days when I first began camping, exploring, and observing them in the great northern forests.

“They are the true symbol of wilderness. You see it all throughout the North Country, in the names of towns, rivers, cafes—everything under the sun,” says Mark Lenarz, a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife researcher, who is now studying this very tragic moose decline.

This latest scientific study has concluded that climate change, combined with deer parasites and severe malnutrition, have caused Minnesota’s moose population to plummet.

In the 1980s, moose numbered about 8,000 in the northeastern part of Minnesota; today, there are less than half that number. And in the northwestern part of Minnesota, while there were once over 4,000 moose; so very sadly, only about 100 of them remain. On my recent trip to this part of the state, I did not encounter a single moose; and very soon, they may vanish, forever.

“The moose are now all gone,
And their bones lie under the sand in the soft coal,
Which was once the green forest, by the estuary...”


Henry Williamson