Buffalo Kill
Clean-living Canada rarely causes international environmental outrage, but since 1990 the federal government has been at the heart of a long-simmering row with conservationists. Wood Buffalo's herd of wood buffalo (a unique subspecies of the plains buffalo) is partially infected with tuberculosis and brucellosis, and government scientists on the Environmental Advisory Board claim the only way to prevent the spread of the diseases (which they claim are highly infectious) to Alberta's valuable beef herds is to kill the buffalo herd off. Scientists opposed to the government plan point out that the herd has been infected for years (since they were brought here 75 years ago in fact), has kept the disease to itself, and has survived by internal regulation and natural balance (animals show no outward signs of the diseases or of suffering). Furthermore there has never been an instance of disease transferring itself to humans. Most locals, who are largely opposed to the cull, argue that killing or inoculating every animal would be a daunting task, given the immensity of the animals' range, and that, if even a few were missed, the whole cull would be fruitless as disease would presumably erupt afresh when the herd regenerated. The last partial cull occurred in 1967, following on from a large-scale slaughter in the 1950s. The restocking issue has opened another can of worms, for at last count there were just eighteen pure-bred, disease-free wood buffalo kept in captivity, and it is from these that the government intends to restart the herd. Most experts argue that the resultant weak, inbred group would compare badly with the large and long-evolved gene pool of the present herd. Other scientists take a completely different line, maintaining that wood buffalo aren't genetically different from their plains cousins and so it wouldn't matter if they were wiped out. The dispute quickly became extremely messy, reflecting fundamental changes in Canadian attitudes towards the rival claims of business and the environment in a tough financial climate. Some see the hand of Canada's powerful beef lobby guiding the government's actions, while others view it as part of a move to relax the powerful injunctions protecting Canada's national parks and open the way for economic growth in what are, almost by definition, regions of depression and high unemployment. This has already started, with Alberta's government taking plains buffalo off the protected list and putting it onto restaurant menus by promoting buffalo farming to boost its northern economy. In the saga's most ironic twist, tuberculosis and brucellosis have turned up in farmed game animals (mainly elk), and a huge increase in game farming has led to an explosion in the very diseases a cull of the wild herds would seek to eradicate. Animals bred in captivity are more susceptible to such diseases, and escaping farmed elk are spreading them to areas far beyond the range of Wood Buffalo's supposed culprits. The federal government appointed a committee of interested parties to review the affair. No action was taken, and in 1995 a five-year Research and Containment programme was instigated to review long-term management; as the results are reviewed, the park's buffalo - now around 2500 in all - still nibble contentedly
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