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Bison harvest in doubt after survey 2013 count shows more than half of Mackenzie bison herd killed by anthrax last summer
Laura Busch
Northern News Services
Published Friday, August 23, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The numbers are in on the effects a sweeping anthrax outbreak had on the Mackenzie bison herd last summer - and they don't bode well for the harvest re-opening this season.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources conducted a special aerial survey of the Mackenzie Bison herd in early March to determine the effects of a massive anthrax outbreak in the summer of 2012. - NNSL file photo |
According to Terry Armstrong, a bison ecologist with the GNWT's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR), the results of a population survey conducted in early March show that more than half of the animals in the herd died last year.
More specifically, the department counted 714 animals in the Mackenzie bison herd as of March 2013, compared to a revised estimate of 1,530 animals in the same month in 2012.
"It's typical to do surveys periodically but we had done one in 2012 so it's not typical to do them in consecutive years. We did this one in 2013 because we had a rather large anthrax die-off in the summer of 2012. We wanted to check on the status (of the herd)," said Armstrong.
The dramatic decline in population was caused by a widespread release of naturally occurring anthrax spores. The disease is common in NWT bison populations but this is the worst outbreak on record.
The department had originally believed only a third of the herd had died after counting and burning 440 carcasses last summer - significantly fewer than the 816 animals now believed to have been killed by the outbreak.
This, said Armstrong, was anticipated.
"Obviously, there were more carcasses out there that we didn't find, which is really what we expected," he said.
Although he classified the change in the herd's population as "a major decline," Armstrong did not go so far as to say the herd is in trouble.
"One disease episode in the longer-term shouldn't really matter but in the short term we do have a management issue there," he said.
In response to the outbreak, ENR and its co-management partners suspended all harvesting of the Mackenzie bison herd, effective Nov. 1, 2012. The bison hunting season typically runs Sept. 1 to March 15. A number of tags are given to aboriginal groups, while 15 tags are awarded to non-aboriginal hunters through a ballot draw. No draw was held this year but those selected last year before the hunt was cancelled have first dibs should the hunting season resume.
When asked what this year's population count bodes for the upcoming hunting season, department spokesperson Judy McLinton stated in an e-mail that, "The harvest remains closed. We will be consulting aboriginal governments and communities in the next couple of months on management actions to ensure the conservation of the Mackenzie wood bison herd."
As an avid hunter and board member with the NWT Wildlife Federation, former mayor Gord Van Tighem doesn't have a problem with extending the hunting ban - whatever is best for the herd is best for hunters in the long run, he said.
"Hunters are by nature conservationists, I think," he said. "They show restraint to allow the population to come back."
He would like to see ENR come up with minimum threshold numbers for the bison herd - and for other large mammals in the territory - to indicate what a sustainable population is, which would automatically trigger hunting bans in the future and keep the guesswork out of sustainable harvesting.
Mackenzie Wood Bison herd population:
- Population estimate March 2013: 714 animals
- Revised estimate March 2012: 1,530 animals
- Total carcasses recovered in 2012: 440
- Estimated cows in March 2013: 300
- Estimated bulls in March 2013: 250
Source: Department of Environment and Natural Resources
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