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Brandenburg Asked for More Moose Sightings After Five Animals Were Reported at Once

Moose standing among trees in Biebrza National Park, Poland
Conservation: Population & status, Management

On 31 July 2026, the Landesjagdverband Brandenburg published a monitoring appeal asking hunters and other observers to report moose sightings with locations, dates and photographs when possible. The appeal followed an unusually busy early summer: wildlife experts estimated in June that at least five different moose (Alces alces) were present in the German state at the same time.

The animals reported in June included two recently seen in the Oder-Spree district, the well-known bull Bert in the Nuthe-Nieplitz region, a young bull in Barnim and an animal recorded by a camera trap at a wildlife overpass on the A12 motorway. Two moose near Grünheide were also seen travelling together. Most moose reaching Brandenburg are thought to arrive from the large population in north-eastern Poland, crossing westwards and sometimes swimming the Oder into Germany.

Wildlife biologist Frank-Uwe Michler described the five simultaneous animals as a new record in the June report. An older WWF Germany account, however, states that at least six moose were present in Brandenburg at the same time in summer 2019. The five-animal figure is therefore best treated as an unusually high simultaneous presence in 2026 rather than a verified all-time record.

The July monitoring appeal says the most recent reports had come from the Grünheide area in June and asks for both new and historical observations so movements can be documented more reliably. Several animals in one summer do not by themselves show that a breeding population is established: the 2026 reports document continued immigration and residence, while permanent recolonisation would require successful reproduction over time.

Sources and image credit

  1. Landesjagdverband Brandenburg. (2026, July 31). Elchmonitoring in Brandenburg und Berlin.Primary monitoring appeal. Requests timely reports of moose sightings with location, date, time and images where possible; states that the most recent sightings mentioned in the appeal came from the Grünheide area in June 2026.
  2. rbb24. (2026, June 16). Fünf Elche streifen zurzeit durch Brandenburg.Reports an expert estimate of at least five different moose simultaneously in Brandenburg, their reported locations and likely immigration from north-eastern Poland. Frank-Uwe Michler called the figure a new record.
  3. WWF Deutschland. (2023). LosBonasus – Crossing!: Die Rückkehr von Wisent und Elch.Background source used to check the record claim. States that at least six moose were present simultaneously in Brandenburg in summer 2019, conflicting with the 2026 description of five as a new all-time record.

Image: Jerzy Strzelecki — wild Moose in Biebrza National Park, Poland. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0. Representative species image from the Polish source region; not one of the Brandenburg animals. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

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