Moose Sensor System ‘Joke of Town’

ST.JOHN’S, NL. — The CBC reported that one of Newfoundland’s high-tech moose sensor systems has been out of order for weeks.

Part of the system near St. John’s has been down, and “now it’s the joke of the town,” said Eugene Nippard of the Save Our People Action Committee.

Newfoundland, according to the CBC, has the highest concentration of moose in the world. The Save Our People Action Committee has been lobbying the province to reduce the number of moose-vehicle collisions on the province’s highways. The two sets of sensors, one near St. John’s and the other near Grand Falls-Windsor, cost the province $1.5 million to install.

The province is currently waiting for parts and a software upgrade to fix the broken sensor.

The sensor system is part of a pilot project and the province is waiting on the results to determine whether it’s the right approach to reducing vehicle-animal collisions.

Nippard, however, said that the simpler and less expensive solution is to install fences. New Brunswick and Ontario both have kilometers of fences along key parts of their provincial highways.

Newfoundland has also installed fences along a small stretch of highway in western Newfoundland as part of the pilot project.

You can read the full story here.