More elk set to arrive Friday at Cameron Lake

Mike Solomon had his bags packed and was ready to make the trip to Elk Island National Park in Alberta on Monday to pick up the latest herd of elk.
They’re scheduled to arrive at their new home at Cameron Lake this Friday.
The park, located about an hour southeast of Edmonton, has been raising and breeding elk since 1933, and has been responsible for supplying ranches and restoration programs across Canada with their elk populations.
Solomon, co-chair of the Northwestern Ontario Elk Restoration Committee (NOERC), is grateful such a resource has been available for what he feels is an important cause.
“We have been very lucky to be able to work directly with the park,” he remarked last week. “When the park is overloaded with elk, they send the surplus animals out to different programs.
“We have been fortunate that we have been one of them, and we are hoping to stay in their good graces,” he added.
Although the work involved in transporting the elk here is long and arduous, Solomon admitted he was very pleased to be chosen to be a part of the job again this year.
“I was involved in the transportation of the elk last year and it was really a very exciting thing,” he enthused. “I am very fortunate to be able to do it again.
“Vic Alberts from Devlin and Daryl Gaudry from Kenora will be making the trip with me, and we are anxious to get the whole thing rolling,” he added.
Familiar with the route they will be taking, Solomon does not foresee any problems.
“The only thing that concerns us with travelling at this time of year is the weather,” he noted. “[But] we have some contingency remedies if we run into any problems.
“Last year there was an extreme storm that bothered our trip so this year we have a few alternate routes we can take if the same thing happens.”
With the latest herd on its way to their new home, Solomon is hoping they’ll enjoy the same success in their new surroundings as the elk before them.
“The elk that are up there now are doing too well,” he joked. “I personally went up to the site the other day to drop off hay for the new elk. I covered it with a tarp and tried to protect it the best I could.
“The old ones came in once I left, removed the tarp, and ate all the hay.”
Solomon also was quick to dismiss concerns the elk coming here will be affected by the recent outbreak of chronic wasting disease that’s forced 1,500 domesticated elk to be put down in Saskatchewan.
“We are always concerned with diseases among these animals,” he stressed. “[But] as of right now, there has been no reports of chronic wasting disease in the wild elk populations in Alberta, and that is where we get our animals from.
“At the park, the animals are tested repeatedly, so I am not too worried,” he added. “However, that does not mean that we are not going to be watching them.
“It is certainly a concern for us.”
As for now, Solomon is focused on getting the 58 elk safely to their new home at Cameron Lake and acquainted with the herd already roaming the area.
“I am really looking forward to getting the elk home,” he said. “It is going to be hard work but I really enjoy the challenge. I am very optimistic that everything is going to go well.”