Alta. eyes plan to send elk to Sask. for penned hunts
Canadian Press
June 3, 2004
EDMONTON (CP) -- Elk farmed in Alberta could soon be in the line of fire on Saskatchewan hunt farms, an Alberta agriculture official said Wednesday.
Doug Milligan said the Alberta government is working on a deal with Saskatchewan that would allow surplus Alberta farm elk to be moved here for penned hunting.
"We're hoping it will lead to that," Milligan said Wednesday. "That's for sure the expectation, but there's no assurance that will happen."
Penned hunting -- shooting animals in fenced enclosures -- has been rejected by Alberta politicians despite intense lobbying from elk farmers.
Even the label is a sensitive issue.
"We would prefer, and the industry would prefer, if you didn't call them penned hunts," Milligan said. "The industry feels that is a negative connotation of a hunt farm."
Saskatchewan would have to relax its rules on moving elk and deer across the provincial boundary for the plan to work.
Alberta officials hope that could occur if Alberta permits farmed elk from Saskatchewan to be brought to Edmonton for processing at a federally-inspected slaughterhouse.
Ray Makowecki, president of the 15,000-member Alberta Fish and Game Association, slammed the idea of penned hunts, whether they are in Alberta or Saskatchewan.
"We just don't support that concept. It doesn't matter where it is occurring," he said. "It would really concern us that we are doing anything to support penned hunting anywhere. We're very strongly opposed."
Makowecki said his group is also concerned about allowing tame elk and deer from Saskatchewan into Alberta because of the risk of disease.
More than 8,000 Saskatchewan game-farmed animals in the past few years have been slaughtered in order to stem an outbreak of chronic wasting disease, an offshoot of mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
"We are not really very secure in the science and knowledge behind some of these problems with chronic wasting disease. That worries us right off the bat," said Makowecki.
Milligan said Alberta officials expect several hundred Saskatchewan farmed-elk "as a starting point" to be processed in Edmonton once the regulations banning their import are changed.
He said the animals must be from farms in Saskatchewan that have a rigourous disease testing program and all animals that are shipped for slaughter must be tested before the meat is sold.
Alberta Premier Ralph Klein called shooting penned up animals "abhorrent" when game farmers lobbied the province to set up hunt farms two years ago.
"I think it's abhorrent to take wild animals and have them penned up and available to hunters who don't want to take the time and effort to go out into the wild," the premier said at the time.
Canadian Press
June 3, 2004
EDMONTON (CP) -- Elk farmed in Alberta could soon be in the line of fire on Saskatchewan hunt farms, an Alberta agriculture official said Wednesday.
Doug Milligan said the Alberta government is working on a deal with Saskatchewan that would allow surplus Alberta farm elk to be moved here for penned hunting.
"We're hoping it will lead to that," Milligan said Wednesday. "That's for sure the expectation, but there's no assurance that will happen."
Penned hunting -- shooting animals in fenced enclosures -- has been rejected by Alberta politicians despite intense lobbying from elk farmers.
Even the label is a sensitive issue.
"We would prefer, and the industry would prefer, if you didn't call them penned hunts," Milligan said. "The industry feels that is a negative connotation of a hunt farm."
Saskatchewan would have to relax its rules on moving elk and deer across the provincial boundary for the plan to work.
Alberta officials hope that could occur if Alberta permits farmed elk from Saskatchewan to be brought to Edmonton for processing at a federally-inspected slaughterhouse.
Ray Makowecki, president of the 15,000-member Alberta Fish and Game Association, slammed the idea of penned hunts, whether they are in Alberta or Saskatchewan.
"We just don't support that concept. It doesn't matter where it is occurring," he said. "It would really concern us that we are doing anything to support penned hunting anywhere. We're very strongly opposed."
Makowecki said his group is also concerned about allowing tame elk and deer from Saskatchewan into Alberta because of the risk of disease.
More than 8,000 Saskatchewan game-farmed animals in the past few years have been slaughtered in order to stem an outbreak of chronic wasting disease, an offshoot of mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
"We are not really very secure in the science and knowledge behind some of these problems with chronic wasting disease. That worries us right off the bat," said Makowecki.
Milligan said Alberta officials expect several hundred Saskatchewan farmed-elk "as a starting point" to be processed in Edmonton once the regulations banning their import are changed.
He said the animals must be from farms in Saskatchewan that have a rigourous disease testing program and all animals that are shipped for slaughter must be tested before the meat is sold.
Alberta Premier Ralph Klein called shooting penned up animals "abhorrent" when game farmers lobbied the province to set up hunt farms two years ago.
"I think it's abhorrent to take wild animals and have them penned up and available to hunters who don't want to take the time and effort to go out into the wild," the premier said at the time.
