Barring a winter storm that would hamper their arrival, more than 50 elk will be spending their first night at the Cameron Lake release site near Nestor Falls by the middle of next week.
Mike Solomon, co-chair of the Northwestern Ontario Elk Restoration Coalition, said 10 members will leave for Elk Island National Park in Alberta on Friday to pick up the herd.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is donating the elk, which also involves checking them for disease, vaccinating them, and helping to transport the animals here.
Once on site at Cameron Lake, the elk–including 10 calves–will be confined to a two-acre holding pen, where they will be fed, watered, and monitored for about 10 days prior to their release into the wild.
“It’s our hope that the [elk transfer] will stir the region and the community to the economic value of the project,” Solomon said last week, referring in part to an “Elk Watch” program that would get people involved by reporting sightings of the animals.
About 30 of the elk–five bulls, 15 cows, and all 10 calves–will be equipped with radio collars for post-release tracking.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
