Dead moose samples inconclusive

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After two moose mysteriously wandered into Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora in September, one was found dead and test results on the cause are inconclusive, a park official said Tuesday.

Mike Oehler, TRNP wildlife biologist, said official test results on 20 samples sent to Colorado for testing have come back inconclusive due to advanced decay.

“The thing was only dead a day … possibly two days,” Oehler said. “A lot of the organs and tissues had already started to decay.”

Higher temperatures could have played a role in the samples decaying a bit quicker.

“Sometimes they can tease something out and other times they can’t,” Oehler said.

Bill Whitworth, chief of resource management at the park, said a preliminary look at the moose showed no visible injuries, no broken bones and no bullet wounds.

“There was a moose sighted in the park trying to get out of the park and then three days later there was a smaller bull seen out of the park trying to get in the park,” John Heiser, a North Unit backcountry ranger, said in an October article.

Not only did the moose arrival baffle park officials, but the bull’s mysterious death prompted a park biologist to send samples to be tested for chronic wasting disease.

The moose have not been spotted since, he said.

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