Resourceful road-kill reaction
RWED makes the most of an unfortunate situation

Derek Neary
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 11/99) - Some residents in Fort Liard got a surprise feed of bison meat last week.

The gift came courtesy of the Department of Renewable Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, which took advantage of an accident in which four bison were killed. The department had the animals skinned and gutted and the meat distributed in the community.

The accident occurred last Thursday between midnight and 8:30 a.m., which is when the RCMP and RWED officials arrived on the scene, according to Cpl. Kevin Boyce of the Fort Liard RCMP.

At the top of the Muskeg Hill, about seven kilometres outside of the hamlet, a truck apparently ran into four cows -- one a yearling -- killing them. Two of them were found on the road while the other two were in the ditch, all within a roughly 30-foot radius, according to Boyce.

The 43-year-old female driver of the pick-up truck, which was a write-off in Boyce's opinion, wasn't injured nor was her passenger. There will be no charges in the incident, he said.

As fate would have it, RWED had close to 20 able bodies available to salvage the meat due to a fire training course for crews from Trout Lake, Wrigley and Fort Liard.

"We kind of lucked out," said Ross Hagen, renewable resources officer in Fort Liard. "They told the guys to get some coveralls and all the knives they could find. Thanks to all those guys it only took an hour (to skin and gut the bison).

"They put the meat on a trailer and sent a couple of individuals around town to give away the meat.

"I was surprised we got rid of four bison that quickly. One of the guys was saying there were some smiling faces," Hagen said. "We've got a lot more people asking for meat now and there's none left."

The hides were turned over to the Acho Dene Koe First Nation, he added.

Boyce commended RWED for its quick actions.

"That was excellent work. They happened to have a bunch of guys doing some training and they all pitched in. That was great."