Industry is again asking the province to allow fenced hunting preserves, but the idea meets resistance from wildlife groups
The idea of establishing fenced hunting preserves for elk, deer and other cervids is again being pursued by the Alberta Elk Commission.
For the third time in the past two decades, the Alberta Fish and Game Association is pushing back against the idea of what they call “canned hunts.”
In 2009, then AFGA president Quentin Bochar called the attempt to establish hunting on enclosed elk ranches an outrage.
“And really hope it’s not true that the government is going behind everyone’s back to try to bail out a few individuals who made bad business decisions,” he said at the time in a news release. “Game farms are just a bad idea as other jurisdictions are finding out and are indeed closing them down.”
Read Also
Research looks to control flea beetles with RNAi
A Vancouver agri-tech company wants to give canola growers another weapon in the never-ending battle against flea beetles.
More than a decade later, AFGA executive director Delinda Ryerson said the only thing that has changed since they opposed the harvesting preserve concept in 2000 — and subsequently a decade later — is the prevalence of chronic wasting disease.
Ryerson said the connection between CWD and game farms is now undeniable.
“It’s always wild (cervids) that get the blame but wildlife biologists all over the province know for a fact there is no denying it was created and started from game-ranched animals,” said Ryerson.
Other diseases like tuberculosis can be spread by elk in such preserves while the fencing required to pen in large cervids can cause habitat fragmentation for wild populations, she added.
The possibility of genetic contamination of wild elk from ranched animals is also a concern.
“Even though those fences are high, some of those critters can still get out of there,” Ryerson said.
John Cameron, chair of the Alberta Elk Commission, dismissed claims that farmed elk spread CWD.
“In the wild, it’s growing at an alarming rate,” he said. “It’s growing over 10, 14 percent in mule deer in the wild, whereas farmed ranches that are operating in endemic areas, we’re lucky to get — out of 81,000 cervids that were tested — 22 that were positive.”
“Every animal that comes off our farm is tested. Not every animal in the wild is,” he said.
Cameron calls the criticism that game farm elk spread CWD “ridiculous.”
“We’re trying to protect ourselves from that. This allows us to have closed systems, closed herds and allows us to manage our herds, which every head that comes off our place is tested,” he said.
Cameron called the use of CWD by groups opposing harvesting preserves convenient. The elk commission is investing in developing testing of not just farmed but wild animals, he added.
“It’s a wildlife issue now and it is something we need to work together to overcome,” he said.
Cameron bristled at the idea that harvesting preserves are unsporting.
“We’re after a minimum of 600 acres with a large degree of cover on that land and that is our ask,” he said. “We’re looking for an experience — a piece of property that gives people an experience and allows them an opportunity to actually work for their animal.”
He said that’s well in line with what hunters of wild game confine themselves to, which is usually a quarter section.
Hunting preserves are something that could not only bring in more money into the elk industry, which has struggled this year with challenges from the drought, but also see investment in the province, Cameron added.
It could mean up to $750 million in capital investment for the province if they are allowed that would translate into up to 600 jobs and provide stimulus in kickstarting a post-pandemic recovery, according to the commission.
“We believe it’s going to bring a lot of value not only to the farmers but to the community,” said Cameron.
As for genetics, Cameron said raised elk have some of the best traits that can draw hunters from around the world to the province.
“We’re behind the times to not have (harvesting preserves) because of the economic development it will bring here in Alberta and the jobs — it’s worth it right now,” he said. “We need it.”
But it’s an argument the Alberta Wildlife Association called tenuous.
The only benefit of such hunting preserves will be to the 200 members of the elk commission, said AWA executive director Ian Urquhart, “and whoever these so-called hunters are who come to take advantage of it.”
Fences won’t stop interactions between wild and farmed elk, nor will they prevent the possible transmission of CWD, he said.
“There are documented cases of interactions between fences — nuzzling between game farm elk and wild elk,” he said.
Urquhart said he is sympathetic to elk farmers in light of a tough year, but that sympathy is tempered by the belief it’s not a business that should have been started in the first place.
“Our position from day one on this is we’re opposed to the game ranch industry,” said Urquhart.
Ryerson said AFGA has heard from the provincial agriculture minister, who said no final decisions will be made before community consultations are done.
CWD was first detected in Alberta’s deer population in 2005.
Since then, hundreds of cases have been identified in deer as well as a few cases in wild elk and moose.
