Goose Tracked to Hunter's Freezer
.c The Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) - Scientists spent four months tracking by satellite the journey of a goose named Kerry that migrated 3,000 miles from Northern Ireland to the Canadian Arctic.
They finally found it last week - in an Inuit hunter's freezer.
``Kerry shot in Canada!'' reads an Aug. 22 update on the migratory tracking project's Web site.
Kerry was one of six light-bellied Brent geese under study by Britain's Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the National Geographic Society.
When signals from Kerry's satellite transmitter showed he had moved from one Arctic island to another and then stopped, the researchers asked Canadian wildlife officers to help find the goose.
An initial search in the wetlands near Resolute Bay found nothing, the Web site reported.
``However, as they reached the town the transmission signals became stronger and, with the help of the local Wildlife Conservation Officer, they tracked the transmitter to the home of a hunter,'' said the Web site report.
``The hunter admitted that he had shot Kerry on Bathurst Island on July 22 had brought the goose back home with him,'' it said. ``This explains why we saw Kerry's transmitter move from Bathurst Island to Cornwallis Island at the end of July.''
Of the six birds the project tracked, only three are still sending signals, according to the Web site.
On the Net:
www.wwt.org.uk/brent
.c The Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) - Scientists spent four months tracking by satellite the journey of a goose named Kerry that migrated 3,000 miles from Northern Ireland to the Canadian Arctic.
They finally found it last week - in an Inuit hunter's freezer.
``Kerry shot in Canada!'' reads an Aug. 22 update on the migratory tracking project's Web site.
Kerry was one of six light-bellied Brent geese under study by Britain's Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the National Geographic Society.
When signals from Kerry's satellite transmitter showed he had moved from one Arctic island to another and then stopped, the researchers asked Canadian wildlife officers to help find the goose.
An initial search in the wetlands near Resolute Bay found nothing, the Web site reported.
``However, as they reached the town the transmission signals became stronger and, with the help of the local Wildlife Conservation Officer, they tracked the transmitter to the home of a hunter,'' said the Web site report.
``The hunter admitted that he had shot Kerry on Bathurst Island on July 22 had brought the goose back home with him,'' it said. ``This explains why we saw Kerry's transmitter move from Bathurst Island to Cornwallis Island at the end of July.''
Of the six birds the project tracked, only three are still sending signals, according to the Web site.
On the Net:
www.wwt.org.uk/brent
