A disease eradication zone around Riding Mountain National Park in
western Manitoba will take effect Jan. 1, 2003, despite concerns among
cattle producers in that area.
The zoning will support attempts to eradicate bovine tuberculosis in
the Riding Mountain area, where the disease has surfaced among cattle
and wild elk during the past several years. Once the zone takes effect,
cattle will not be allowed to leave the area unless they have been
tested for TB and a movement permit has been issued, said Maria Koller
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The disease eradication zone now extends to all of Manitoba, which
means breeding stock and sexually intact heifers must be tested for TB,
and have movement permits, before being exported to the United States.
The zone that comes into effect Jan. 1 could eventually lift
restrictions on cattle herds elsewhere in the province, depending on
whether the U.S. Department of Agriculture recognizes the smaller zone
and can be convinced that cattle outside the Riding Mountain area pose
no risk of infection.
It could take the USDA as little as six months, but possibly more than
a year, to recognize the smaller zone.
Glen Campbell, a cattle producer near Riding Mountain, worries the
smaller zone will cause cattle buyers to discriminate against cattle
from his area, resulting in lower prices. He also wonders whether TB
can ever be eradicated from around the park, suggesting the problem
will exist indefinitely unless more is done to control the disease
within the wild elk herd there.
“All of this is treating the symptoms, not the problem. We have to do
something with that infected elk herd.”
While he understands the reasons for creating a smaller zone, Campbell
said he cannot support it.
“We’re being sacrificed for the rest of the province. We don’t look on
that too kindly.”
Betty Green, vice-president of the Manitoba Cattle Producers
Association, said she understands those sentiments, but added that the
province’s cattle producers want aggressive action taken against bovine
TB.
She said while the MCPA supports the smaller zone, it also wants bovine
TB eradicated from the province’s cattle herd, assurances the disease
will be eliminated from wild species, and compensation for producers
near the park for the extra handling needed to test cattle and for the
paperwork required to get movement permits.
“We support the concept of zoning as long as all three pieces are put
together.”
Green said progress is being made on two of those areas. A testing
program will help determine whether the disease still exists in cattle
herds near the park, and Green is convinced that Parks Canada and
Manitoba Conservation are now taking TB seriously. She said increased
hunting has been allowed to reduce the wild elk population, and funding
is available to build barrier fences to help prevent elk and cattle
from mingling.
