CWD Not a Concern for Montreal Lake Elk Project

 

CWD Not a Concern for Montreal Lake Elk Project

Wednesday, September 24, 2003 at 16:02

 

 

 

The threat of Chronic Wasting Disease isn’t deterring officials with the Montreal Lake Cree Nation from accepting more shipments of elk.

 

Recently, public concerns were raised over elk raised on game farms across the prairies who had contracted CWD.

 

However, the coordinator for the Montreal Lake Elk Relocation Project, Ed Henderson, says elk received from Elk Island National Park near Edmonton are declared disease-free before they are accepted.

 

He knows the illness is a serious one, but says there have been no signs of the disease within animals released near the First Nation.

 

Montreal Lake first started introducing elk back into the woodlands almost three years ago in an effort to repopulate the species.

 

Several hundred animals have come over since then, and Henderson says a healthy herd of forty was spotted this summer just north of Timber Bay.