More cattle will have to be tested following confirmation of tuberculosis in a wild elk near Riding Mountain National Park.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency recently confirmed that an elk shot in an area north of the park last winter had the disease.
The agency expects to know in a matter of weeks whether another elk shot south of the park last winter also had TB.
The presence of tuberculosis in the park’s wild elk herd has caused some aggravation for cattle producers in the area. They worry bovine TB might be transmitted from the elk to their herds.
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In 1997, a cattle herd south of the park was destroyed because of the disease.
Producers see a double standard, where TB is tolerated in wild elk but infected cattle herds are slaughtered.
“That has been the main frustration for producers,” said Wanda McFadyen, executive director of the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association.
Blaine Thompson, a CFIA veterinary specialist, said notices have been sent to livestock producers in an area north of Riding Mountain telling them that testing of their herds will start sometime after calves are weaned.
However, Thompson said the same kind of testing is not expected for cattle herds south of the park if the elk shot there tests positive for TB. Cattle there recently completed testing due to the discovery two winters ago of an infected elk. There was no TB among the two dozen livestock herds tested.
“It doesn’t seem practical at this point to go back and retest again,” Thompson said.
It takes at least three months to confirm a TB infection. The latest indications are that the second elk was infected.
“So far it’s matching in terms of the pathology that was done and some preliminary testing,” said Thompson.
People in the Riding Mountain region have met to talk about the tuberculosis issue.
While McFadyen did not discuss details of those meetings, cattle producers have in the past said they want better monitoring of the wild elk herd for tuberculosis. They also want a management plan for the park that sets out how many elk it can reasonably accommodate.
TB in the wild elk herd has also caused some angst for the province’s elk growers.
They are concerned that animals captured near the park during the final year of the province’s elk capture program will one day be sold into farmed herds.
