Convinced that it’s only a matter of time before bovine tuberculosis
appears in another Manitoba cattle herd, Glen Campbell wants more done
to control the disease in wild elk.
The producer from Onanole, Man., thinks current measures are
inadequate, prompting him to launch a petition calling on Parks Canada
to eliminate the disease within the elk herd at Riding Mountain
National Park.
“We don’t want to eliminate the elk herd,” said Campbell, who has
circulated the petition to rural municipal offices throughout the
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province. “We want to eliminate the disease within the elk herd.”
Manitoba was zoned this year as part of the effort to control and
eradicate bovine TB in the province. The zoning means all breeding
cattle leaving the province for the United States must be tested for
the disease.
Producers such as Campbell are concerned that the disease threat to
cattle will never end as long as there are wild elk infected with TB in
the Riding Mountain area.
It’s believed the disease can be transmitted between cattle and elk,
and it’s known that the disease exists at least in low levels in the
park’s elk herd.
“Our cattle are now free of it, but it’s just a matter of time before
we have another infection,” Campbell said.
Strategies have been developed to manage the risk. One of the most
recent has been to increase the number of elk that can be killed by
hunters around the park this fall.
If the hunting targets are met, it will help reduce the concentration
of elk inside the park, making it less likely that they would roam onto
surrounding farms and mingle with cattle.
However, it would not eliminate the disease within the elk herd.
Campbell thinks government should start a program where groups of elk
would be captured and removed from the park.
He proposes that each group captured would be kept separate from the
others and every group would undergo testing for bovine TB.
Any evidence of disease within a group would result in slaughter of
that particular group.
Once there was a large enough number captured and found free of the
disease, those remaining in the park could be culled and their meat
used for human consumption, if there were no health risks.
The elk that had been removed and tested TB-free could be returned to
the park to re-establish the herd there, Campbell said.
“I think that’s possible to do.”
Campbell planned to have the signed petitions delivered to Ottawa by
Canadian Alliance agriculture critic Howard Hilstrom, who earlier this
year called on the federal government to cull the wild elk herd at
Riding Mountain to protect Manitoba’s cattle industry.
Efforts are under way to have the zone where TB testing is required
reduced to an area around the park.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is working to have the smaller zone
in place by the end of the year.
The Manitoba Cattle Producers Association wants assurances from
government that efforts to eradicate bovine TB in the province will
extend to all species that could be infected.
Cattle producers also want a clearer idea of how long the proposed zone
around the Riding Mountain area would stay in place and they want
compensation for testing costs.
“It’s a lot like a puzzle,” said MCPA vice-president Betty Green. “All
the pieces are sitting there. We just need to link them up so we have a
very clear plan for producers.”
Green said Campbell’s petition supports MCPA’s actions.
“The producers really want to see the eradication of the problem, not
the eradication of the elk or anything like that.”
