ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wants moose to be added to the state's endangered species list although the designation would not immediately prevent or limit hunting of the animals.
The DNR wants to list the animal, whose population is declining in Minnesota, as a species of concern — the initial protective designation for an animal or plant, the Duluth News Tribune ( http://bit.ly/SNWyVh) reported.
"It doesn't do anything for the species legally. But it means they (DNR) are paying attention to what's going on. It's an official heads-up that something is wrong, even if they aren't endangered yet," said Ron Moen, a wildlife biologist studying moose at the Natural Resources Research Institute of the University of Minnesota Duluth.
To limit or ban hunting of moose, the species would have to move up the list to threatened or endangered status.
A revised endangered species list has been in the works for five years and could be finalized next year. On Monday the department proposed adding 67 animals to the list, as well as 114 native plants that officials worry are in decline.
Under the proposal, Minnesota's updated endangered-species list would increase from 439 species of plants, mammals, insects and other critters to 591 species.
The little brown myotis bat, facing a potentially devastating attack from white nose syndrome fungus already plaguing other states, is being added to Minnesota's list as a species of concern, as is the big brown bat for the same reason. The lynx forest cat, already on the federal endangered species list as threatened in Minnesota, would make the state list for the first time.
The boreal owl would become a species of concern, as would the northern goshawk, both birds of northern Minnesota's forests. The loggerhead shrike and horned grebe would move from threatened to endangered status.
