WINNIPEG – Despite opposition from farmers and animal rights groups, the provincial government managed to capture 117 elk in northwestern Manitoba’s Swan River Valley last month.
Bob Carmichael, spokesperson for the natural resources department, said most of the elk are being held at a game farm near Grunthal, Man. They will be sold later this year to farmers who want to start elk ranching.
Carmichael said three elk died in captivity. One cut its mouth and caught a fungal infection from eating hay. Another hit a fence and broke its neck. The third fell in a transport trailer and was trampled by other elk.
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“We don’t like to see any animal die,” Carmichael said, adding the last time the government captured elk, the mortality rate was higher.
Carmichael said the government relied on two traps on crown land and three on farmers’ properties to catch the elk.
The Swan River RCMP report the traps were vandalized five times. No arrests have been made.
Jerry Dushanek, who farms near Minitonas, broke a farmer boycott of the elk capture and let the province use a corral on his land.
But last Friday afternoon, arsonists destroyed the corral, 80 round hay bales, a trailer and tarps. Dushanek blamed activists.
He said the arsonists came by snowmobile, put a lock on the gate to his land so he couldn’t get in, then started the fire. Natural resources had already moved the elk from his land.
He didn’t have insurance.
Angry at boycott
Dushanek is angry at activists, the farmers boycotting the capture and the RCMP, which he said did not respond quickly enough to his call.
RCMP estimated the fire caused $20,000 in damages. Carmichael said he didn’t know whether the province would compensate Dushanek for his losses.
The government will not try to capture any more elk, because many females may soon be pregnant, and it would be dangerous to capture and transport them.
Natural resources minister Albert Driedger met with farmers and the local elk management board in Swan River on March 4 to talk about the roundup and compensation for hay and property damage. No details were available at press time.
