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Article: HARDER TO FIND; LOSS OF HABITAT PROMPTS DECLINE IN MUSKRAT POPULATION.(Sports)(Column)
- Article from:
- The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)
- Article date:
- December 26, 2002
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Byline: J. Michael Kelly Staff writer
They're still New York's most abundant furbearers, but muskrats aren't nearly as common as they used to be.
"The statewide population of muskrats definitely is down," said Bob Gotie, who monitors furbearing species in Central New York for the Department of Environmental Conservation's Region 7 office in Cortland. "The reason is a combination of long-term habitat changes and recent low summer rainfalls."
In the last five years, Gotie said, New York trappers have harvested between 150,000 and 200,000 muskrats annually for sale at fur markets. That's a steep drop-off since the early 1980s, when'rat trappers ...