The lifecycle of moles

Syzygys

Syzygys

As a mother, I am telling you
Valued Senior Member
In the park where we walk the dogs, the dogs keep finding and eating dozens of dead moles. They look like died of natural causes or freeze. The problem is that I just can't believe that is the natural end for a mole, freezing to death.
After all how can the next generation survive? Anyway, I simply can't figure out why they are dying or if that is natural... Any thought?

Interesting info:

Male moles are called boars; females are called sows. A group of moles is called a labor. Since at least the era of Early Modern English the mole was also known in the UK as a "moldywarp" or "moldywarpes"
 
Syzygys said:
In the park where we walk the dogs, the dogs keep finding and eating dozens of dead moles. They look like died of natural causes or freeze. The problem is that I just can't believe that is the natural end for a mole, freezing to death.
After all how can the next generation survive? Anyway, I simply can't figure out why they are dying or if that is natural... Any thought?

Interesting info:

Male moles are called boars; females are called sows. A group of moles is called a labor. Since at least the era of Early Modern English the mole was also known in the UK as a "moldywarp" or "moldywarpes"
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The moles were probably gassed. The other potential death method using poison on the grass to kill beetle larvae.

Personally, I dont know why people kill moles, most types eat alot of grub worms, they ariate the soil, toads and snakes hibernate in their tunnels, and are all around a plus for a healthy yard.
 
milkweed said:
Personally, I dont know why people kill moles, most types eat alot of grub worms, they aerate the soil, toads and snakes hibernate in their tunnels, and are all around a plus for a healthy yard.
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To read further down in that Wikipedia article on "Moles" you cited, I think it answers the question pretty well.
Moles are considered to be an agricultural pest in some countries, while in others, such as Germany, they are a protected species but may be killed if a permit is received. Problems cited as caused by moles include contamination of silage with soil particles making it unpalatable to animals, the covering of pasture with fresh soil reducing its size and yield, damage to agricultural machinery by the exposure of stones, damage to young plants through disturbance of the soil, weed invasion of pasture through exposure of fresh tilled soil, and damage to drainage systems and watercourses. Other species such as weasels and voles may use mole tunnels to gain access to enclosed areas or plant roots. [In non-agricultural environments,] moles burrow in lawns, raising molehills, and killing the lawn, for which they are sometimes considered pests. They can undermine plant roots, indirectly causing damage or death. [Although] contrary to popular belief, moles [themselves] don't eat plant roots.
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It sounds like moles are disliked for many of the same reasons as gophers and chipmunks.
 
Well, the thing is that this park is an old golfcourse and now protected and let the vegetation run wild. So there is no pesticides or gas or whatever. There is a river on 2 sides, so maybe when the water high (on the other side of the levee) that brings up the groundwater on this side too and that makes them to come out in the winter and freeze???

A week ago one of the dogs ate 4 (four) in a row!!
 
Have a local veterinarian do a necropsy on one of them to determine what caused its death. Also the county in which you live could also be asked to look into their deaths if you suspect anything bad happening.
 
Well, that's why the thread. Maybe it is just natural. They are froze to death, most likely, but I don't get if that would be really a natural way to end their lifecycles...
So far my theory of the rising groundwater forces them out of their hibernation and they freeze outside sounds plausible...

Now a week ago we found a dead owl. There was no sign of wounds or cause of death, he looked like just frozen and fell from the tree. That was more misterious than the moles. His position in death was like he was still sitting on the tree...
 
Syzygys said:
There is a river on 2 sides, so maybe when the water high (on the other side of the levee) that brings up the groundwater on this side too and that makes them to come out in the winter and freeze???
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This is a real possibility. I've seen moles driven from areas due to rising waters.
 
Syzygys said:
Now a week ago we found a dead owl. There was no sign of wounds or cause of death, he looked like just frozen and fell from the tree. That was more misterious than the moles. His position in death was like he was still sitting on the tree...
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Often local wildlife centers will want these types of birds to perform tests on (for both cause of death and general population info). If you find something like this again, you might want to call a veterinary school or wildlife rehab center, or dept of natural resources type office to see if someone would want to pick up the animal.

Theres lots of things that can go wrong for these guys. I brought in a great horned owl that was hit by a car (friends saw the accident happen). It looked perfectly fine, but during the accident, it had detached both retinas and was totally blind. They (Raptor center) had to put it to sleep.
 
Moles are considered to be an agricultural pest in some countries, while in others, such as Germany, they are a protected species but may be killed if a permit is received. Problems cited as caused by moles include contamination of silage with soil particles making it unpalatable to animals, the covering of pasture with fresh soil reducing its size and yield, damage to agricultural machinery by the exposure of stones, damage to young plants through disturbance of the soil, weed invasion of pasture through exposure of fresh tilled soil, and damage to drainage systems and watercourses. Other species such as weasels and voles may use mole tunnels to gain access to enclosed areas or plant roots. [In non-agricultural environments,] moles burrow in lawns, raising molehills, and killing the lawn, for which they are sometimes considered pests. They can undermine plant roots, indirectly causing damage or death. [Although] contrary to popular belief, moles [themselves] don't eat plant roots.
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Fraggle Rocker said:
It sounds like moles are disliked for many of the same reasons as gophers and chipmunks.
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I have heard the above claims regarding mole issues. Life experience leads me to a different conclusion (cost vs benefit). Most of the complaints I have heard people make about moles is aesthetic. They simply dont like the burrows look or they dont like the way it feels on their feet when they walk across the tunnels. And to a lesser extent, the yard 'dying'.

I talked a friend into leaving the moles alone and to watch what happens. This friend no longer kills moles after seeing the reaction of the yard to the mole area in the year following the tunnels being dug. You could follow the old tunnels during the dry parts of the summer as the grass stayed greener longer in these areas where the soil was no longer compressed. Better water retention or better root growth, or both, the effect was noticed and convincing.

Another yard had moles and plant yellowing was a case of yard compaction after construction where top soil was buried by gravelly soil. A case of wanting instant gratification, I could not convince these people to let nature take its course for the long term benefit. So they killed the moles, spent money on seed and ferts and two years later admitted the area of mole damage faired much better in the long run than the areas they still struggled with to keep green.

There are also yards which are all around healthy and you wont see the benefit of mole on the yard and it will appear nothing has changed.
 
Syzygys said:
Now a week ago we found a dead owl. There was no sign of wounds or cause of death, he looked like just frozen and fell from the tree. That was more misterious than the moles. His position in death was like he was still sitting on the tree...
Click to expand...
Owls do not freeze to death. Non-migratory birds have more than enough plumage to keep them warm in the coldest winter. Birds have an extensive autonomic muscular system which, for example, keeps them from falling off their perch when they're sleeping. An unconscious owl would still maintain its perch and even after falling from the tree its toes would remain in the perching position.

Your owl died of something else, fell out of the tree in its natural resting pose, and the corpse then froze in that position. You need to find out what is killing all these creatures!

If the government won't help, call the nearest avian veterinary specialist. Call the universities and museums. Call the local newspaper or the nearest big city newspaper. Call the TV news. Talk to the people at the nearest pet shop that specializes in birds. Birds have nearly worthless immune systems and diseases can spread like wildfire. Call Bird Talk magazine. Some media outlet will pick this up as an attention-getter. Even the National Enquirer will print the truth if it's unusual enough.
 
geese thats so inhumane to kill the moles...moles should be protected. If anything its the dogs that should be poisoned as well as golfers who play upon the bodies of dead moles.
 
Moles actually aerate the ground similar to worms, except if they get out of control population wise.
 
Actually, we didn't see a problem with eating naturally frozen moles either. More dogs did it and none of them had any problems...
 
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