Bison herd to be culled after TB discovery

A project to try to save the Hook Lake bison herd in Fort Resolution is coming to an end, as is the dream of maintaining a disease-free herd of captive wood bison in the territory.

The Hook Lake Recovery Project started in 1991, when it was decided something had to be done to try to save the wood bison. Most wild herds, including the Hook Lake one, are contaminated with bovine tuberculosis.

The territorial governments isolated a healthy group of bison in 1996 to try to save the population.

However, last summer, several animals in the herd tested positive for TB. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency now considers the entire herd of 122 animals contaminated.

In August, Michael Miltenberger, the minister of environment and natural resources, called on his federal counterpart to live up to a nine-year old promise to help pay for saving the animals.

Miltenberger says he's disappointed the government didn't step up to the plate.

"Disease-free status is highly sought after and highly prized, and carefully protected and rightly so," he says.

"So given all those factors, the thought was the federal government would be involved front and centre in making that strategy a reality but unfortunately they've made the decision otherwise, so we're in the position of making some hard decisions of our own."

The territorial government has pumped $3 million into the project, while Ottawa never put up any money.

Miltenberger says it's a shame that project is going to waste.

"The biologists are all saddened to see this thing being brought to an end. There was a tremendous opportunity to learn things about the genetics of bison, disease control, a whole host of other related issues," he says.

Miltenberger says the animals will be put down some time in February or March.

After that the bison yards and pens, which are right in the town of Fort Resolution, will be cleaned up.

Happy they are gone

The chief of Fort Resolution residents have been asking the territorial government to move the herd for years, because they were worried it posed a threat to human health.

Robert Sayine says the animals are smelly and noisy, and the residents were concerned their water might get contaminated.

Sayine says the community is relieved the animals will soon be gone, but he says it's unfortunate they have to die.

"We would have rathered they save them and move them back to Hook Lake," he says.

"Originally, that's where the recovery program should have been, you know, where they're from across the Slave [River].

"But it was moved here, and that was the concern. And now we have over 100 animals and the concern was the health hazard for the community."

In August, the territorial government committed to moving the herd out of town if the project was going to continue.

But now the animals will stay in their current location until they are killed.