The wild elk population in the St. Paul area appears to be on the rise, according to a local Fish and Wildlife biologist. “They’re definitely here,&” says Barb Maile, the wildlife biologist with St. Paul Fish and Wildlife.
The wild elk population in the St. Paul area appears to be on the rise, according to a local Fish and Wildlife biologist.
“They’re definitely here,&” says Barb Maile, the wildlife biologist with St. Paul Fish and Wildlife. She adds there are a number of elk in the area, and the number seems to be growing every year.
People have reported seeing the animals in the St. Paul Provincial Grazing Reserve, south of St. Paul, says Maile, adding, there is also a number of the animals on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River in the Rannach Provincial Grazing Reserve, east of Two Hills.
“We’ve seen individual elk observations in different areas,&” says Maile, who personally saw a cow elk near Glendon a couple of years ago; there are also claims of resident elk in the Smoky Lake area.
Maile says that with a growing deer population, it’s not a big surprise to see a growing elk population. The animals are not totally uncommon to the area, but St. Paul is on the northern fringe of where elk are typically seen. Historically speaking, there certainly were more elk on the prairies, years ago.
The animals can cause ecological and crop damage, says Maile.
Maile recommends that if people see wild elk in the area, to report the sighting to the local Fish and Wildlife office. The range of the animal is determined by what’s being reported, she explains, and this allows Fish and Wildlife officials to keep an eye on the local population.
The Government of Alberta estimates there are about 32,000 elk in the province. In 2011, about 85,000 people applied for a general elk hunting license and about 25,000 licenses were distributed, according to Carrie Sancartier, a public affairs officer with Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development.
Another wild animal causing some concern in the area lately are wolves. Although Maile says she has not received any reports of the animals near St. Paul, residents north of St. Paul, in the Glendon area and south near Musidora, have contacted the St. Paul Journal with reports of the animals causing harm to livestock.
Maile says a lot of the area in question is wooded, and has adequate food sources for wolves, but she could not confirm if the animals observed were individual wolves or packs of wolves.
“If it’s appropriate habitat, it’s not impossible,&” she says.
Jack Gilberg has a ranch in the Two Hills area, near Musidora, and says he has had issues with wolves attacking his cattle. He personally snared three wolves last fall. Gilberg believes there may be a pack of wolves near the Myrnam bridge and another pack near the Duvernay bridge.
“I’m having a hard time convincing people that there’s a problem,&” says Gilberg, although, he has heard of other farmers in the area having similar issues. Through his own research, Gilberg says only wolves have the jaw power to eat the large bones of a calf, unlike a bear, cougar or coyote.
Gilberg says it’s important for farmers and ranchers who are having similar issues to come together and share information, in hopes of preventing further livestock predation.
Maile says the M.D. of Bonnyville has had issues with wolves in the past and now puts a bounty on wolves. This year, the County of St. Paul will expand its coyote bounty to include wolves, starting in January.
Karen and Michael Luciak reside in the M.D. of Bonnyville, north of Glendon, and have had a number of encounters with wolves in the last few years.
A couple years ago, the Luciaks lost three sheep in one night. Karen says there weren’t even any bones left behind.
“We would only identify which sheep were gone by which ones were left,&” says Karen, adding, “(Wolves) also killed one of our horses.&”
A neighbour had similar issues and lost an entire flock of sheep to predators, along with two dogs and llamas, says Karen.
She says she and her husband have seen the wolves creeping around in their yard at night.
“They were as tall as the sheep fence itself,&” she says, adding, the couple also caught the animals on video this past summer walking across their land. Most recently, near the end of October, Michael walked up to a dead cow and also came across five adult wolves with a pup nearby.
“We would say there has definitely been an increase in the wolf population,&” says Karen, adding, she supports a wolf bounty.
As for coyote populations, Maile says the animals haven’t been much of a problem this year. When the deer population increased, the coyote population also increased but the populations of both animals seem to be decreasing slightly in the past couple of years. Two winters ago, there was an average amount of snow, which resulted in a more typical die-off and this keeps population levels lower, she explains.
