LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – In a highly charged meeting, a majority of people voiced their disapproval of private hunt farms coming to Alberta.
More than 100 people turned out for an information meeting held in Lethbridge, many to speak against proposed elk and deer hunting operations, as well as the game farming industry in general.
“The ethics of your proposal leaves me very cold,” said area hunter Brian Warrack.
“This reminds me of the nobles and serfs. As a hunter I wonder if we are heading into a situation where only those who’ve got the bucks can afford to harvest the animals,” he said.
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His comments were typical of the Lethbridge meeting. It was one of eight sessions held across the province discussing cervid harvest preserves, or CHPs, the term supporters prefer for hunt farms.
Ian Thorleifson, manager of the Alberta Elk Association, along with representatives from the white-tailed and mule deer association, explained the benefits they see in such a business in the province.
“It is very much a rural development opportunity. We see CHPs as being located in the periphery areas in Alberta, not near cities or mainstream agricultural land,” Thorleifson said.
Supporters project significant earnings from hunters who pay to enter the hunt farms, as well as the spin-off benefits from added tourism that might include photographers and sightseers.
Last year, 1,000 yearling white-tailed bucks were sold to hunt farms in Pennsylvania and Michigan for about $1.2 million.
Supporters claim those four- or five-year-old bucks would provide a net return of $4 million to producers.
They estimate similar revenue from 1,000 mature elk bulls.
It is estimated farmed elk numbers could reach 40,000 this year. There will be about 9,000 commercial deer. Few of these animals are being slaughtered. Instead, they are raised for breeding stock and velvet antler production.
As the population grows, farm operators are looking for another market for mature males.
“This is a very humane way to slaughter these animals in their natural habitat without stress,” said Thorleifson.
Only mature farmed animals would go to the hunt farms, which must be separate from the game farms where farmed animals are regularly kept.
A minimum of 600 acres is proposed per hunt farm with three-metre perimeter fencing. All wild deer, elk and moose would be cleared out of the area.
But most people at the meeting did not buy into the proposal, including many who called themselves hunters, as well as representatives from Alberta Wilderness Association, Fish and Game Association and the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.
But a group of game farmers at the meeting supported the concept. Taber, Alta., elk producer Lance Kostiw asked the crowd to consider the merits of the idea and that these animals are not pets. Like cattle, they are killed for meat, antlers and other byproducts.
