Park targets TB in its deer, elk herds

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/12/2010 (5388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Slowly but surely, Parks Canada is working to eradicate bovine tuberculosis in the herds of elk and white-tailed deer that call the Riding Mountain National Park region home.

For nearly 20 years, the RMNP resource conservation and wildlife health teams have watched, tested and euthanized animals afflicted with the infectious disease under the TB Management Strategy for RMNP. Since 1992, 43 elk and 11 white-tailed deer have tested positive for TB.

This season, federal funding and external support from government and non-governmental organizations have allowed the program to ramp up its focus in the west end of the park, otherwise known as the "core area" for TB, which stretches along the Birdtail Valley between Rossburn and Grandview.

Resource conservation manager Paul Tarleton says the immediate focus of the management strategy is continued study of disease rates, methods of transmission and its prevalence in the current elk and deer populations.

"I think we’ve had some good result, and we’re optimistic but we’re not finished yet," he told the Sun. "Parks Canada’s role is to get into the park and try to track down where TB is concentrated. There are other agencies including farmers, landowners, hunters and First Nations groups who are each … working together to win this battle against bovine TB. Really that’s the only way we’re going to be successful."

In 2009, 155 elk were monitored for TB. On average, 20 per cent are later removed for a tissue culture test — the only definitive way to confirm TB — but of those 155 monitored, only one animal tested positive, down from five confirmed TB-positive in 2008 and the 13 in 2003.

2009 also marked the first year no infected animals were found within park boundaries, Tarleton added.

To date, no elk born after 2003 have tested positive; further proof that the rate of new infections has been decreasing since the implementation of disease transmission reduction efforts like hay barrier fencing on farms with livestock, and restrictions on baiting for hunting purposes.

The 2010-11 management strategy will concentrate on the test-and-remove approach, which targets removing animals with TB.

Approximately 230 elk will be captured, blood tested, radio collared and released. Animals will only be recaptured and removed for a full necropsy if blood samples test suspicious for TB.

"The more we learn about eliminating bovine TB from the (RMNP) area, the more convinced we are that success can be achieved, but only through a co-ordinated effort by all," Tarleton said, adding that improved communication and co-operation between hunters and neighbouring First Nations communities is paramount to the success of the program.

Maintaining a healthy and sustainable population means the management strategy must employ a fine balance between eradicating the disease and population maintenance.

"We are watching very carefully how we are affecting the population," Tarleton said. "At this point, we’re not planning on doing anything that will affect the population in a way that it cannot recover. We’re always very conscious of ensuring the population can recover."