A moose walks out of the woods. Fifty thousand ticks stick to it.

Which would win in a fight—a moose or a tick? A moose, of course! But a young moose can’t beat 50,000 blood-suckers at once plus cold weather plus deep snow plus low food supply.

Lately, Maine has had short winters. Tiny ticks love that. More warmth means more time to latch on to moose. Ticks stay warm in moose fur and drink moose blood all winter. (Gross, but true.) Last year, ticks killed almost all of Maine’s moose calves.

How can people save the moose? Mainers want to let hunters kill more moose each fall. Does that make sense?

Maybe. Fewer moose mean fewer ticks will have a chance to grab on. Fewer fed ticks mean fewer ticks reproducing. This could eventually make tick populations shrink.

 Frost-free weather means a moose meandering in the brush can get more ticks—tens of thousands more. Moose are mighty creatures. But unlike deer and snowshoe hares, they’re not good at getting rid of ticks by rubbing up against trees.

An adult moose can usually survive the ticks. But younger moose suffer badly. Ticks can also weaken female moose so they can’t have babies.

For now, over 60,000 moose live in Maine. But that big number is shrinking.

Not everyone likes the idea of more moose hunting. Some argue, “Why kill moose to save moose?” But experimenters say they might be able break the tick life cycle with moose hunting.

And moose hunters don’t mind at all. This fall, the Maine government gave hunters permission to kill more moose. Too bad for ticks. They’ll have 4,000 fewer moose to munch.

Why? People are caretakers of God’s world. They can help protect animal species by keeping creature numbers in balance.