scooter
03-13-2009, 11:12 AM
Wildlife group angry over shoot-first policy for elk -
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The Manitoba Wildlife Federation is upset by a Parks Canada program to shoot elk first -- and get answers later --for bovine tuberculosis. After several years of capturing elk and killing them only after an initial blood test proved they had TB, Parks Canada is now in the process of shooting 50 in a known TB hot spot in Riding Mountain National Park and then testing the carcasses for the disease.
Parks Canada is also culling another 50 deer using the same method, as well as increasing the number of elk it captures, puts on a radio collar, and captures again to kill only if blood tests come back positive for TB.
"We have a few concerns," Dale Garnham, MWF president, said. "The concern is not so much with the animal they are killing, but the other animals that cut their legs in the snow and ice while running away... the bleeding will be a magnet for any predators." Parks Canada wants to eliminate TB in the elk to protect the health of cattle herds in areas around the park.
Currently, if a cow is found to be infected with TB, the entire herd is destroyed. But, Garnham said several years of reducing the park's elk herd in half -- down to about 2,500 -- hasn't changed the percentage of animals that have TB. "I'm not a scientist, but right now we don't think there's justifiable scientific rationale to prove where the TB is coming from," he said. "MWF members said they don't want this done this year, but they went ahead full bore." But, Ken Kingdon, co-ordinator of the wildlife health program at the park, said the new approach was taken because the percentage of elk with TB hasn't changed since the program began in 2002.
"The objective is to eradicate bovine TB while still having an elk population," Kingdon said. "We're certain the approach we're taking will not be detrimental to the overall elk and deer herd." Kingdon said they decided to cull 50 animals from the elk herd in a specific area because of the high incidence of TB there. "It has just become really apparent where the disease was," he said. "We do believe we can get rid of the disease in the wildlife.
Between now and two or three years down the road we will make major inroads into the disease." The federation represents 14,000 hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts.
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
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PUBLICATION: WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
DATE: 2009.03.13
PAGE: A8
BYLINE: Kevin Rollason
WORD COUNT: 370
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The Manitoba Wildlife Federation is upset by a Parks Canada program to shoot elk first -- and get answers later --for bovine tuberculosis. After several years of capturing elk and killing them only after an initial blood test proved they had TB, Parks Canada is now in the process of shooting 50 in a known TB hot spot in Riding Mountain National Park and then testing the carcasses for the disease.
Parks Canada is also culling another 50 deer using the same method, as well as increasing the number of elk it captures, puts on a radio collar, and captures again to kill only if blood tests come back positive for TB.
"We have a few concerns," Dale Garnham, MWF president, said. "The concern is not so much with the animal they are killing, but the other animals that cut their legs in the snow and ice while running away... the bleeding will be a magnet for any predators." Parks Canada wants to eliminate TB in the elk to protect the health of cattle herds in areas around the park.
Currently, if a cow is found to be infected with TB, the entire herd is destroyed. But, Garnham said several years of reducing the park's elk herd in half -- down to about 2,500 -- hasn't changed the percentage of animals that have TB. "I'm not a scientist, but right now we don't think there's justifiable scientific rationale to prove where the TB is coming from," he said. "MWF members said they don't want this done this year, but they went ahead full bore." But, Ken Kingdon, co-ordinator of the wildlife health program at the park, said the new approach was taken because the percentage of elk with TB hasn't changed since the program began in 2002.
"The objective is to eradicate bovine TB while still having an elk population," Kingdon said. "We're certain the approach we're taking will not be detrimental to the overall elk and deer herd." Kingdon said they decided to cull 50 animals from the elk herd in a specific area because of the high incidence of TB there. "It has just become really apparent where the disease was," he said. "We do believe we can get rid of the disease in the wildlife.
Between now and two or three years down the road we will make major inroads into the disease." The federation represents 14,000 hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts.
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
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PUBLICATION: WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
DATE: 2009.03.13
PAGE: A8
BYLINE: Kevin Rollason
WORD COUNT: 370
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