Pandemic interrupts longtime Isle Royale wolf-moose study
January 20, 2021
(National Park Service)
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. One of the world’s longest-running wildlife field studies has fallen prey to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since 1959, a research team has spent most of the winter observing the interplay between wolves and moose at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. But this year’s mission has been scrapped to protect the scientists and support personnel from possible exposure to the virus, Superintendent Denice Swanke said Friday.
Experts from several universities, the park service and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa had planned to assess how an effort to rebuild the wolf population is affecting the ecosystem.
TRAVERSE CITY — One of the world s longest-running wildlife field studies has fallen prey to the coronavirus pandemic.Since 1959, a research team has spent most of the winter observing the interplay between wolves and moose at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. But this year s mission has been scrapped to protect the scientists and support personnel from possible exposure to the virus, Superintendent Denice Swanke said Friday.Experts from several universities, the park service
AP Environmental Writer
THE U.S. NATIONAL PARK Service and the National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation releases a white wolf onto Isle Royale National Park in Michigan in February 2019, part of an effort to boost the wolf population on the island. (Daniel Conjanu/The National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation via AP, File)
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) One of the world’s longest-running wildlife field studies has fallen prey to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since 1959, a research team has spent most of the winter observing the interplay between wolves and moose at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. But this year’s mission has been scrapped to protect the scientists and support personnel from possible exposure to the virus, Superintendent Denice Swanke said Friday.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) A Washtenaw County woman is the first person in Michigan diagnosed with the COVID-19 variant, SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7. Officials say the variant was identified Saturday by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Laboratories. The woman, whose name and age were not released, recently had traveled to the United Kingdom. Washtenaw County is west of Detroit. Close contacts of the woman have been identified and are in quarantine. Officials said two new cases have been identified from close contacts, but it is not known if they are infected with the variant.