More than 100 elk captured as part of Manitoba’s controversial capture program will be slaughtered due to concerns they might be carrying bovine tuberculosis, which could spread to farmed elk or cattle.
The elk were captured in the winter of 1998-99 as part of a provincial program to supply stock for Manitoba’s elk farmers.
Among the 438 elk captured that winter were animals taken from the Riding Mountain National Park area.
The Manitoba Elk Growers Association, concerned about the risk of disease, opposed having elk captured from the Riding Mountain area dispersed into farmed elk herds. Testing of wild elk in the park has shown bovine TB is present there, at least in low levels.
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During the past two years, the elk captured from the Riding Mountain area and from an area to the south of Duck Mountain Provincial Park have been kept separate from elk taken elsewhere in the province during the 1998-99 capture.
The suspect animals underwent three rounds of testing for bovine tuberculosis. Each time the tests came up negative. But the accuracy of the testing is not 100 percent, which meant there could still be a risk of disease.
Due to the uncertainty, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency also opposed releasing those animals.
“They are basically telling us they are not going to allow us to release those elk into the elk farming industry,” said Emerson Trout, Manitoba’s provincial elk specialist.
As a compromise – and in a bid to resolve the fate of animals that it has been boarding for more than two years – the province will slaughter the 132 adult elk left from the capture around Riding Mountain and to the south of Duck Mountain provincial park in early 1999.
In an agreement between the province and the agency, the slaughtered elk will be tested for TB. If the tests come back negative, the offspring of those animals can be dispersed to Manitoba elk farmers.
A portion of the calves have already been tested twice for TB. All of the calves will have undergone at least one round of testing before going to elk growers.
The president of the Manitoba Elk Growers Association said he welcomes the latest move by the province.
“We just do not want any of those animals captured from around there (Riding Mountain) dispersed into our industry,” said Merv Farmer.
“I can’t see a danger in the offspring being released, but there still are certain members of the association who are opposed to that.”
A private processor is handling the slaughter and marketing of meat from the 132 adult elk. More than two dozen of the animals have already been slaughtered.
During the elk capture in 1998-99, elk were also taken from other areas of Manitoba, including the Swan River Valley and the Interlake region.
Those animals, which number close to 300 due to the birth of offspring, are to be dispersed to elk growers this fall, according to Trout.
