Who dropped the ball in the Suffield block?

By Letter to the Editor on July 20, 2018.

In the early 1990s concern over the changing ecosystems in the Suffield block culminated in removal of 1,200 feral horses who up to this point lived happily not bothering too many folks, except some genius bureaucrats who felt it necessary to have them removed as they were the cause of that eco-destruction. No one at the time mentioned the regular destruction of the prairie by the hundreds of soldiers, army equipment, and weaponry used to train the Brits. Many dollars were involved, so must keep quiet.

Some time later those same geniuses decided to introduce some elk to that same area in order to contain the ecology. More than 220 of the animals were brought in to replace the wild horses, some of whom had been adopted by sympathetic horse lovers. They stated that 800 would be a good fit to control nature. There were no plans for control. At an annual increase of 20 per cent the herd grew to 7,500 animals before someone thought, “gee maybe we need to control these numbers.” Presently there are 400 elk and annual hunts are allowed with the First Nations able to participate.

These are the unconfirmed facts as I see it.

The real questions are who started the ball rolling, who dropped it, who ignored the coming problem, and who should pay a price for such nonsensical manipulation of nature. Why has there been no noise about this stupid behaviour? Will someone please step up and admit there were ulterior motives in this exchange of wild life? Who will take responsibility? And we haven’t even mentioned the huge problems caused by these majestic animals for the surrounding ranchers.

And we wonder who is running the ship?

Dale Lintott

Medicine Hat

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