Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 08/05) - The federal government may help save the captive bison herd in Fort Resolution.

"They're interested in trying to maintain the work that's been done to date," Environment and Natural Resources Minister Michael Miltenberger said last week.

The GNWT plans to slaughter all 130 animals in the herd, unless federal funding is available to continue the Hook Lake bison recovery program.

Miltenberger met Aug. 3 in Yellowknife with federal Environment Minister Stephane Dion and expects to know by the end of August if federal money is available.

Miltenberger said the project needs $500,000 to move the herd from Fort Resolution and up to $300,000 a year to maintain it in a new location.

The territorial government spent $3 million over nine years to develop a disease-free herd, but Miltenberger said "we're not in a position to fund it any longer. It's their call."

The bison recovery project began in 1996 as an effort deal with bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis in wild bison in Wood Buffalo National Park, which were seen as a threat to beef herds in northern Alberta.

The plan was to develop a disease-free herd that was expected to grow to 2,000 animals by 2015 which would replace diseased bison in the park. Newborn calves were culled from the herd and isolated in the hope of protecting them from the diseases that can be transmitted through milk.

The Fort Resolution herd was thought to be disease-free, but tests earlier this year revealed bovine tuberculosis in one animal. Based on an experimental test, as many as 12 other animals might also have tuberculosis.

Nine of the 12 bison were killed, but only one showed visible signs of tuberculosis when cut open.

More reliable tests will be done by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Ontario. The results should be known in several weeks.