MOOSE AS A DOMESTIC ANIMAL
THE KOSTROMA MOOSE FARM
Welcome to this moose site and to the Kostroma (Sumarokovo) moose farm!
Sorry, this video still has a Russian narration
If you came here only to find the way to the moose farm, go directly to «Guided tours» or «How to find the moose farm» sections.
If you only want to view images, you may proceed to the «Gallery», but the illustrated text part has photographs, too. All my text and photographs are distributed freely: you may copy them and use for non-commercial purposes in any way except for hunting propaganda. Please add a link to this site if you use any part of it.
If you love animals, read all through the site.
Radio tracking: Domestic moose are free ranging during almost all their lives. So, we want to know their
locations. Every adult animal has a GPS-tag, and tracks are available on the map here (examples):
If you became interested in a so-called «moose farming», please, start from the section «Don't torture animals!» Moose can't live a long life in captivity; they need some freedom: several months of freedom every year. Keeping moose in captivity round the year is a kind of abusive and cruel handling of them.
If you oppose animal abuse, this is a question to be discussed: is the farm useful for moose?
This is my opinion:
– On the one hand, moose live in dependence on human. Sometimes fenced moose may be out of food
if both tractors are in bad condition or drivers are on a drunk, but this is not a woe because fences are not too
durable here. The animals can break them or jump over if necessary. Sometimes the farm director disimproves
the moose confinement conditions to improve the conditions for visitors. The worst of it is that the
animals can be sold to hunting ranches or zoos. As a rule, moose don't live out longer than 7 years
in zoo cages. Finally, they can be killed out of mere freak of the farm director. Almost every
director started his work on the farm with «culling».
– On the other hand, a free ranging domestic moose can leave the farm if he or she wants to. Some of them
migrated up to two hundred kilometers away and lived there as wild ones. Those who left on the farm, don't
need to thrill and be afraid of stalking hunters. 36000 hectares of reserved area are guarded by gamekeepers
from poaching, and no hunting is permitted on the area. Adult moose have few natural enemies. Only gnats
disturb in the summertime, but the farm offers moose very good «dark» shelters. The farm has vets, and the
calves survival rate is higher than in the natural conditions. Lifespan of domestic moose is up to 18-20 years
which is hardly achievable in the nature. Moose here don't suffer from winter shortage of food: aspen bark and
branches are available at the woodcut. Every day every moose gets a bucket or two of oatmeal. The farm
joke is: our moose sold themselves for a bucket of oatmeal. See further details on this site.
This Internet site is made and supported by Alexander Minaev, a senior scientific researcher working in the A.N.Severtzov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation. This site is not commercial, mercantile, business. It has no profits. All photographs are taken by me except some expressly indicated. My photographs are distributed freely. You may copy them on your disk and use in any way except hunting propaganda. If you don't like your face on a photo, please, write to me at moosefarmer@mail.ru -- and I'll remove that photograph.
I use a simple html-code. Please excuse me for such a «primitivism». The site design is ultimately simplified to improve load speed through Russian telephone wires and GPRS. Russian Internet beyond the borders of Moscow and some big cities is not very fast. The site structure is «linear», and you can look through it all and won't miss anything if press the right arrow in the bottom of every page.
Please excuse me for poor English: English is not my native language.
I use a word «moose» to avoid ambiguity, because English «elk» means Alces alces in Europe, but Cervus canadensis, wapiti in America. An Indian word «moose» means Alces alces everywhere.
My personal e-mail address is moosefarmer@mail.ru . I try to check messages at least once a day.
An author's film «Moose, a domestic animal. The Kostroma moose farm» is available (on DVD, 90 min., English and Russian versions, 18+). You will see almost all about moose life on the farm in winter, spring, summer and autumn. Visitors can buy DVD in the souvenir shop near the farm entrance.
The film with a slightly lower resolution 640х480 than on DVD:
A new official site of the Sumarokovo farm appeared in the Internet at http://www.loseferma.ru. That site has no English version. I am not responsible for its content though some of my text and photographs are taken from this site.
Contents:
«The Conquest of the Nature» and so-called «moose
farming». Why moose is a domestic animal? The history of moose farming
in Russia
How to raise a tame moose. Breeding a remount
How to keep tame moose. Radio position finding electronic
devices used to keep free-ranging animals
Moose milk and the Ivan Susanin Sanatorium. Milk-moose
life. Milking. How to use moose milk for therapy
Guided tours on the moose farm. What can visitors
see and what they cannot see. Some words about safety precautions for visitors
How to find the moose farm. Maps. Contact information
Other moose farms, parks, research centers, etc.
Links.
Don't torture animals!
Library. Sorry, almost all here is in Russian
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Some animal photographs (no moose)
Left to right: The author of this site; Alpha moose Luchik. This photo was taken during
the autumn rut period of 2003
On May 2, 2011 Luchik reached the age of 14. Four months later he was killed either by a poacher or
another male moose in the rut
©1999-2024 Alexander Minaev
