MWF calls for full moose closure in Ducks, Porcupine Mountains

The Manitoba Wildlife Federation is calling on the province to completely close moose harvesting in the Ducks and Porcupine mountains, saying the populations in the areas have declined to critically low levels.

Chris Heald, Senior Policy Analyst with the Manitoba Wildlife Federation, said the organization wants the province to enforce the existing conservation closure and prohibit all moose harvest, including cow moose.

“The population has been decimated,” Heald said. “We want to see the province enforcing a complete closure.”

The organization has also raised concerns about Indigenous harvesting for ceremonial and sustenance purposes in the area.

Heald said the federation has spoken with First Nations leaders, elders and other conservation and hunting organizations about the situation.

“Even some of the First Nation leaders are raising the flag of concern in the area,” he said. “And some of the elders are raising concerns.”

Heald said the federation believes the population has reached a point where no harvest should be permitted.

He notes the Manitoba Métis Federation operates a lottery that allocates moose tags in the area. Heald said the MWF believes the population is below the threshold where even one animal should be harvested.

However, the federation’s position is not based on a desire to reduce hunting opportunities across Manitoba, Heald said.

“We’re about conservation and sustainable hunting.”

Heald pointed to the province’s decision last year to eliminate the final licensed cow-moose season as an example of government responding to concerns about declining populations.

The MWF had advocated for the elimination of that season, he said, and the province subsequently abolished it.

Heald said the federation wants harvest decisions to be based on population surveys and for the province to have final authority over sustainable harvest levels.

“It’s not that we’re asking for more hunting opportunity,” he said. “We’re asking for everybody to trust the science, follow what government sets, and let’s make it sustainable for everybody.”

Heald said the federation is concerned the damage to the Ducks and Porcupine mountain moose populations could become irreversible if numbers fall below a critical threshold.

“If you have to get to a certain point and you suppress the population, it can never recover,” he said.

He also acknowledged the need to consider Indigenous rights protected under Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, while arguing that those rights must be balanced with conservation of the resource.

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“Nobody ever said in Section 35 they have exclusive rights to the resource,” he said. “It’s a shared resource, and people have to learn to trust that the survey data is accurate, and government sets the seasons based on that data.”

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