Rescued Moose calf blown up...by authorities

[Catherine]

I am shocked and perturbed by this. A man in Montana found a baby moose whose mother had been killed. He did the right thing and turned it over to the Wildlife officials, so they could care for it. They blew it up along with the body of its mother.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/05/us/montana-moose-killed/

They think they did the right thing.
http://rt.com/usa/265108-montana-forestr...tle-moose/
I don't care what their reasons were, killing a baby like that is brutal and inhumane. They did not even try to save it.

Can Wildlife officials be charged with cruelty. They should be. Certainly they are not doing their jobs.

[LPC]

"That's our policy". That's the explanation for euthanising. No doubt the Nazis could have said the same.

If that is their policy, then change the policy. It is untrue that an animal cannot survive without mother's milk. Substitutes (colostrum in powder form) can be given. See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/colostrum

The killing of this baby was unnecessary. They will say, "I was just following orders". Now where did I hear that before?....

[Tobi]

An absolutely shocking, pitiful shame! Of COURSE a newborn can survive, with the right treatment, feeding and care. And as LPC says it is possible to provide colostrum.

These guys just couldn't be plain bothered.

How about this? (quoted from the site reporting the incident)

"We rehabilitate bears but we are not staffed to take care of animals that transmit disease."

Oh yeah? Well what about humans then? Okay we don't have Moose in Britain, but we have other wildlife, and I know for a fact that I am in greater danger of catching a transmittable disease during contact with humans than any wildlife around here.
Anyway that's not really the point. The point is that these 'officials' just couldn't be bothered to get that little calf the help it needed. Why is it that in such a sleepy area like Somerset (where I live) there is a wonderful wildlife rescue and sanctuary supported by donations, and they will take ANY creature in to help it without resorting to cruelty or silly excuses?

If the park authorities are "not staffed" sufficiently to take care of wildlife, then they need to start hiring, or liaising more successfully with other wildlife Rescues!

[Catherine]

I am sure the little calf could have lived. He wasn't sick, he was orphaned. There are places that would have raised him.

Ordinary precautions could have been taken to prevent possible disease transmission. I think the greatest danger of disease transmission would come if you ate the moose.

Wouldn't blowing it up risk disease transmission even more.

They just didn't want to bother.

Don't they realize that "I was just following orders" is no longer an acceptable excuse for unacceptable behavior.