The Saskatchewan hunters and defense groups are talking after the Saskatchewan government extended the update hunting season running during three areas of the province.
In a rare extension of the traditional hunting season, the provincial government offers licenses for the hunting of alces from March 10 to 31. The licenses are limited to hunting within WMZ 39, to the west of Yorkton, the RM of Stanley, Northeast of Fort Qu’appelle, and the RM of Leask, northern Saskatoon.
The government says that extended hunt is allowed due to the damage of wildlife on farms, and to collect bovine tuberculosis samples in WMZ 39 and RM of Stanley.
The announcement was received by the opposition of the rights of animals and indigenous groups, which say that hunting is not ethical and breaks indigenous cultural norms. Offering licenses in March will mean that the vast majority of hunted females will have several months pregnant.
On March 12, the Animal Justice Legal Defense Group sent a letter to Saskatchewan’s Minister of Environment, Travis Keisig, arguing that the measure was contrary to Saskatchewan’s Animal Protection Law.
Animal Justice said that hunting pregnant alces during this time of the year contravenes the prohibition of the law of causing undue anguish for animals while hunting. The act stipulates exceptions to that rule, provided that they fall within the “reasonable and generally accepted practices” of hunting.
According to Kaitlyn Mitchell, director of Legal Defense of the group, that exception has not been fulfilled.
“It really is facing the rule of law to expand posts,” he said. “Just because some people want to shoot Elk in spring, suddenly we will consider that it is also reasonable, generally accepted. It simply is not.”
“We are talking about sensitive, social and intelligent animals that deserve our compassion and respect.”
Goes against cultural values: Fsin
The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), which represents 74 first nations in Saskatchewan, has also asked the government to stop the license process. He says that the decision goes against their cultural values in pregnant hunting, and was carried out without his consultation.
“It’s hard to put in words, but you just don’t do that. You don’t go and kill babies who are in sacred animal bellies such as Alce,” said Fsin Bobby Cameron chief. “There are other methods, other means, other ways of approaching the elderly population.”
“We will tell this to all land owners, farmers of farmers. If you meet this problem, call us.”
For some hunters, the ethics of pregnant claw hunting is reduced to a definition of what constitutes a pregnancy.
In Saskatchewan, the typical alces hunting season extends between September and the end of December, usually for short windows of a few weeks. Avoiding hunting out of these areas is intended to allow alces populations to have calves in the summer. Female of Ages, known as cows, companion in the fall and is pregnant for about 250 days, which means that many are already pregnant during the official hunting season.
Rebecca Russell, an Ancou Mountain Lake hunter northwest Regina, says that is a key distinction.
“You are still shooting a cow and possibly I could still be pregnant. But my opinion is that if you are shooting it later in the year, let’s say September, they are pregnant, but it is not a calf that breathes,” he said. “Very likely [in March] They are breathing inside the cow. Then they are alive, but they have not yet been born. “
“I understand why they are doing it. I just don’t agree when they are doing it,” he said, and said he has spoken with several hunters who have bought hunting labels with the intention of not using them, “saving two cows and two alces.”
Russell suggests an alternative to sell more hunting labels and expand hunting windows, allowing greater control of the population where alces populations cause damage to farms.
Bovine tuberculosis worries
In a statement, the Saskatchewan government confirmed that he had received the letter from Animal Justice and recognized Fsin’s concerns.
“The decision to allow additional hunting opportunities is not taken lightly and is influenced by a variety of factors,” he said, referring to claims for informed damage above the average in the three hunting areas and emphasizing the concern about the spread of bovine tuberculosis.
According to the government, a pack of a herd in southeast of Saskatchewan recently gave positive for bovine tuberculosis, the second case found in the province since 2023.
As a status of the March hunting license, it is read in the statement, any elce taken from RM of Stanley or WMZ 39 must present its head for bovine tuberculosis tests.
“Wild life surveillance is a component of each bovine tuberculosis investigation, since it is important to ensure that the disease has not spilled in surrounding populations of susceptible wildlife,” he said.
For Ryan Brook, a professor at the College of Agriculture and Bioressation of the University of Saskatchewan, the threat of bovine tuberculosis is a strong reason to undertake extended hunting.
The disease, which can spread between wildlin and livestock herds through hay bundles, can be very destructive to farms, Brook said. And if the disease is detected even in a single animal, he said, then the whole flock would have to be eliminated and destroyed.
“I think the evidence is very, very critical,” he said. “The notion of not collecting more samples in March and waiting until the fall? Bovine TB can spread very, very quickly. And once it is established in the wildlife population, it is very difficult, if not impossible to eradicate.”
“Then, time is the essence, and support each and every one of the actions that are aggressive and proactive to get in front of this,” he said.
“The concerns about ethics are certainly not lost in me, or any other person with whom they have talked about this. Therefore, these are very legitimate and appropriate things to think and talk. But again, there is no simple answer.”
