Manitoba Conservation last week said it will use increased hunting to trim the number of wild elk in the Riding Mountain National Park area.
The department said it wants the elk population cut to about 4,000 animals in the next five years. Park staff estimate there were more than 5,000 elk in the park last winter.
Beginning this fall, there will be more hunting licences issued as an interim measure of control, said Ken Rebizant, a big game biologist with Manitoba Conservation.
“That’s the game plan from our end of things,” he said in a Feb. 24 interview.
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That was welcome news to Garry Hill, a farmer and director with the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association.
“I think that’s probably a good start,” he said from his farm near Langruth, Man.
Producers are concerned about bovine tuberculosis and the possibility of the disease getting transmitted from wild elk to cattle herds. They believe more rigorous testing should be done on elk herds where the disease surfaces to identify and eliminate those animals carrying TB.
Cattle producers last year speculated the park is overcrowded with elk, forcing more of the animals to venture onto surrounding farmland. In their view, that increases the risk of tuberculosis being spread to cattle herds.
“I’m not sure all the park is infected,” Hill said last week. “A lot of us believe there’s pockets.”
An elk shot near the park last year was confirmed to have bovine TB. It was the third such case since 1991.
The discovery led to the testing of two dozen cattle herds for the disease. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said none of the cattle tested positive. It has never been proven that wild elk transmit the disease to cattle or vice versa.
Deciding on hunt limits that will bring the elk population to 4,000 animals could be a challenge. Aerial surveys that count the elk each winter are imprecise. A survey this winter arrived at a median number of 3,700 elk, said Pat Rousseau, the aquatics and wildlife management coordinator at Riding Mountain.
Due to the mild winter, the elk were less inclined to band together, making it more difficult to get an accurate count.
A long-term management plan will also be developed for the wild elk herd. Doug Pastuck, big game manager for Manitoba Conservation, said a draft report could be completed late this year or early next year.
Among the things to be examined are depredation control, response to confirmed cases of bovine TB, methods used to survey the elk population and ways to manage it.
