Moose in Cheshire

A typical newspaper article mixing up moose and elk . Still very interesting to hear therre are European elk in Cheshire . I reckon there are more than 4 others between the HWP and private collection in Scotland .

Whichever way you look at it , he certainly will not have the first moose births in the UK in 2000 years - a European elk was born at Highland Wildlife park earlier this year and Whipsnade bred moose back in the 1960's or 1970's .
 
I still say the word 'elk' should be avoided as it just leads to confusion - if we stick to Alces alces as Moose and Cervus elaphus as either Red Deer or Wapiti then life's much more straightforward. :)
 
Bele said:
Whipsnade bred moose back in the 1960's or 1970's .
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Moose did indeed breed at Whipsnade during the 1960s and 1970s; in fact moose were born in all the years below:-

1960; 1961; 1962; 1964; 1965; 1966; 1969; 1972; 1975; 1976; 1977; 1978; 1979
 
I wonder what happened to all the calves. If they survived where did they go? I don't remember any other collections with Moose during that period.
 
Pertinax said:
I wonder what happened to all the calves. If they survived where did they go? I don't remember any other collections with Moose during that period.
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Good question. I think quite a few of these youngsters failed to survive; like you, I don’t recall ever seeing any other moose in UK collections during this period.

By the end of 1981, there were only three moose left at Whipsnade and the last one died during 1985.
 
This place now puts a sign out on the main road when its open saying "Come and see our Reindeer,Moose and Deer".
 
presumably they are aware- but if the sign just read 'come and see our Deer' nobody would bother.;)
 
Tim May said:
Moose did indeed breed at Whipsnade during the 1960s and 1970s; in fact moose were born in all the years below:-

1960; 1961; 1962; 1964; 1965; 1966; 1969; 1972; 1975; 1976; 1977; 1978; 1979
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Are we definitely referring to moose/elk and not wapiti/elk? The reason I ask is that is a hell of alot of calves born to what is a notoriously difficult species to breed. Also I have found references previously that refer to captive-bred moose in the UK only to find that someone was confused over the word 'elk' and that they were indeed wapiti.
 
Whipsnade did also keep Wapiti at this time- in an adjacent enclosure to the Moose.

But I don't think Tim May would confuse the two when posting the record of births.;)
 
tetrapod said:
Thanks for clarifying. Amazing record of births then. I assume that because the UK is not flooded with moose that most did not survive to adulthood.
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I certainly only recall Whipsnade as the only collection that has held moose/European elk in the UK, in the last 30 years, up till now with HWP as the only public collection with them.

Would the Norfolk wildlife park have held any during its heyday
 
kiang said:
Would the Norfolk wildlife park have held any during its heyday
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I do not think so. Their acreage was quite small and certainly the largest deer I saw there was a small group of Red deer in a paddock along the Boundary hedge.
 
Pertinax said:
But I don't think Tim May would confuse the two when posting the record of births.
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Thank you.

The births I listed were definitely of genuine moose. As mentioned in earlier posts, I think many of the calves failed to survive.

Incidentally, have any “zoo-chatters” been to see those in Cheshire yet?
 
I believe the collection at the Alladale estate is (or has been) disbanded which might explain the appearance of Moose in Cheshire.
 
Alladale Project update.

A previous post in this section says the Cheshire Moose(European elk) may be the same pair that were at the Alladale 'Rewilding' project in Invernesshire.

Can any confirm what is happening up there or if this is correct?
 
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