Questions raised over moose cull

When a Mi’kmaq hunter shoots a moose in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, the meat feeds children, hides are used in clothing, and there’s one fewer ungulate damaging the park’s vulnerable forest.

However, some citizens question whether an average taxpayer price tag of slightly over $7,900 per animal has been justified.

More than 120 moose have been killed since the program was introduced three years ago. Ottawa flies in Aboriginal hunters into the park, and helps them remove the carcass, with the food distributed to Mi’kmaq communities and food banks across Nova Scotia.

The five-year “Bring Back The Boreal Forest” reforestation and hunting pilot program saw its budget double from $1 million to $2.1 million, Parks Canada says.

Park conservation manager Rob Howey argues the harvest of 122 animals from an estimated herd of 1,800 since the fall of 2015 has been a worthwhile expenditure.

“Parks Canada has a proven track record of effective ecosystem management and population reduction is only used in situations where it’s absolutely considered necessary,” he said in an interview.

The current hunt is expected to conclude in the first week of December.

He said the use of helicopters is an efficient method for about six Mi’kmaq harvesters to hunt them and then remove the carcass from rugged terrain in the 20-square-kilometre pilot project.

\He says early monitoring of the twigs of balsam fir and spruce the moose feed on in the experimental area has shown a significant decrease in the numbers of trees being eaten before they have a chance to grow.