Overview
- Researchers noted the collared moose stopped moving on Saturday and the GPS device sent a mortality signal the next day, prompting recovery of the carcass and a necropsy at the Leibniz IZW.
- The postmortem found a large, football‑sized hematoma consistent with blunt flank trauma but did not establish a definitive cause of death.
- Scientists say possible causes include contact with cattle on the rutting pasture or fights with a second bull that had been in Bert’s range in the days before his death.
- Bert’s death reduces the estimated wild moose count in Brandenburg from five to four and removes an unusually long, near‑continuous telemetry record used to study movement, road crossings and habitat use.
- Researchers warn it may be hard to replace Bert’s GPS transmitter because devices are difficult to obtain, which complicates continued monitoring and small‑population management in the region.