Moose Law

This is why God made personal injury lawyers.

In the most Canada news ever, a man has brought a class action suit against the Canadian government for its failure to control the moose population in Newfoundland and Labrador. An appeals court dismissed the claim, but personal injury lawyer Ches Crosbie vows to take his campaign all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court: “The case is unprecedented in many ways… It’s rife with live legal issues for a court of appeal.”

The theory of liability here is that the Canadian government introduced moose to Newfoundland island in 1904 as a source of food. Now their population is out of control, and motorists routinely slam into them and are injured by the large herbivores.

Let’s get this out of the way quickly… the solution is NOT to release an “apex predator” to control the moose population. A prime moose can generally not be messed with by any alpha predator. Top predators will eat some moose calves, but when you get out to check the damage the moose did to your car, the sound of timber wolves closing in around you is not something you are going to want to hear.

Oh, and for the Texans in the audience, shooting them hasn’t really been a successful answer either. Sorry Canada, you have a trophic cascade on your hands, and there is little that can be done about it….

The government defended itself to the appeals court by saying it has taken reasonable actions to deal with the problem. From the Truro Daily News (gavel bang: ABA Journal):

The province has expressed condolences to crash victims. But it has vigorously defended its use of roadside signs, limited fencing, brush cutting and public awareness campaigns…

[Transportation Minister Nick McGrath] declined comment on Crosbie’s call for an out-of-court settlement. He said the government will decide next steps after reviewing a $5-million pilot project. It included more hunting, motion-sensor highway warning systems that failed to work most of the time, and 16 kilometres of moose fencing near Barachois Pond Provincial Park in southwestern Newfoundland.

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You know what, I think Crosbie has a point. This is the government’s fault. Moose were not native to Newfoundland. The government brought the moose in, then it built a highway through — what turns out to be — crazy dangerous invasive moose territory. I mean, let’s say New York City released a bunch of cobras to deal with the pigeon population. And then those cobras found warm hiding places throughout the NYC subway system. Wouldn’t the government have an obligation to citizens beyond “If you see something, say something, especially if the something looks like a cobra.” That wouldn’t be enough, right?

How is the moose different than if the Canadian government introduced velociraptors to Newfoundland? It’s some s**t that doesn’t belong there that government put there that is now causing damage. The government should pay for that damage. If you mess with moose, you get the antlers.

Lawyer says he will appeal dismissal of class-action lawsuit over moose crashes [Truro Daily News]
Does government owe moose-vehicle crash victims? Lawyer vows appeal after losing class action [ABA Journal]

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