MADAWASKA – In an emotionally charged hearing this weekend, the state wildlife commissioner was given a petition with nearly 3,000 signatures demanding Maine “do something” about moose-vehicle collisions.

There have been four fatalities this year, including two moose-vehicle accidents in June that killed Madawaska residents Eugene Levesque and Norman Thibodeau.

“This is something that is quite close to home,” Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Roland Martin told about 100 people who crowded a hearing on the issue Friday night.

Martin, a Sinclair native, knew both victims.

From 1999 to 2001, Maine had nearly 15,000 animal crashes. Of those, 82 percent involved deer and 14 percent involved moose.

In Aroostook County, according to information provided at Friday’s hearing, there were 241 moose vehicle crashes with an economic impact of more than $3.1 million.

For many at the hearing, Maine’s largest animal and a top tourist attraction is nothing more than a public menace, and suggestions for dealing with it ran the gamut from humane relocation to total extermination.

“The [Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife] has actually increased the number of moose cow permits issued in this area,” Mark Stadler of IF&W said. “But is this going fast enough? We are going to take a look at the population in 2004 and may re-look at the number of permits.”

The current Maine moose population is estimated at 30,000 animals statewide.

The increasing number of moose-vehicle accidents is an expression of the combination of much larger issues, Robert Van Riper, biologist with the state Department of Transportation, said. Among those issues: habitat fragmentation and disruption.

Van Riper’s department is experimenting with improved warning signs, fluorescent road striping, flashing signals and even high-tech light sensors to alert motorists of moose ahead.

“These solutions run from the cheap to the extremely expensive,” he said.

The light sensor system, for example, runs around $1 million.

Add driver inattention and more drivers on the roads driving faster, and it is a recipe for disaster, Sgt. Hugh Turner of the Maine State Police said.

“The roads are better and people really scoot along and then it’s too late to see the moose,” Turner said.

In an effort to educate motorists of the potential dangers associated with moose on the roads, several state agencies joined forces to create brochures, videos and other materials aimed at the driving public.

Since starting to study the moose situation in northern Maine, Martin said, he has received numerous e-mails and letters containing suggestions.

“Some people want us to put all the moose to sleep, someone suggested painting them with fluorescent paint and someone else said we could put red flags on moose ears,” Martin said.

On Friday night Martin heard numerous requests to reduce the overall numbers of moose in Maine, whether through expanding the moose lottery, designating open season on the animals or directing his department’s game wardens to turn a blind eye to poaching.

“Imagine what it would be like without the moose hunt,” said state Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake. He said he supports granting Martin emergency authority to increase the moose permit numbers in pockets of increased moose populations.

The state now awards 2,600 moose permits to hunters annually through a lottery system. The two-week season runs the last week in September and second week in October.

As it is, the commissioner said, he is looking to expand the numbers of moose permits awarded in the hunting zones around Madawaska.

“I do not wish to eliminate the moose in Maine,” said Earnie Levesque, the father of Eugene Levesque, who was killed in an accident with a moose, “but those numbers need to be reduced [and that] would decrease accidents and lives would be saved.”

Jeff Albert owns a business in Madawaska. His fleet of trucks averages a combined 1 million miles annually.

“There are too many moose,” Albert said. “Driver inattention is not the problem – it’s moose inattention. They just rush right out in front of cars.”

Moose need to be lured away from roads, whether by placing salt blocks in the woods far from roads or by eliminating habitat near roadways, Albert said.

The answer is not in glitzy brochures and advertising campaigns, he said.

“This is lame,” Albert said, holding up a copy of a brochure titled “Hidden Hazards: The dangers of wildlife-motor vehicle collisions.” He said such publications are an insult to veteran Maine drivers.

For at least one resident, far too much concern is being accorded the moose.

“Why do we care so much about the moose?” asked Brenda Sirois. “Human life is more important. Animals are put on this earth to hunt – why can’t we kill [moose] when we see them?”

Sirois was a passenger on the motorcycle immediately preceding that ridden by Eugene and Patricia Levesque the night Eugene Levesque was killed.

Many at the forum said they felt residents should have the option of killing so-called problem moose – including moose wandering in the road.

“Just because a moose is crossing the road does not mean it’s a problem,” a game warden pointed out.

“We could eliminate every moose in Maine but one, [but] we can’t guarantee that one won’t be a problem,” Gene Dumont, chief state biologist, said.