Despite the opposition of many Albertans and the promises of premiers and SRD ministers, the government seems bent on ramming shoot farms down our throats. Please take a few minutes to express your displeasure.
Alberta Fish & Game Association Concerned about Bill to reclassify Deer and Elk
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Edmonton March 11, 2011)… Alberta’s largest conservation group, the Alberta Fish & Game Association (AFGA), is gravely concerned about news that the Alberta Provincial Government is once again moving ahead behind closed doors and without public consultation with the second reading of Bill 11 - Livestock Diversity Amendment Act 2011 which will reclassify domestic cervids as diversified livestock. This Bill will in turn will pave the way for game farmers to charge individuals money to come in and shoot a tame animal of their choice---an act that amounts to little more than killing a pet.
The establishment of these operations has been the goal of the Alberta Elk Commission, and apparently government, for years and is viewed as a last gasp at making some money by the failing farmed elk and deer industry. Known as “cervid harvest preserves” at the time (even though there is not the slightest hint of fair chase involved), they were most recently defeated in 2001 after a public uproar initiated by the AFGA led then Premier Ralph Klein to call them “abhorrent”.
Game farms have been linked to the introduction and spreading of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) the ungulate equivalent of mad cow which is a contagious, fatal prion disease of deer and elk that continues to spread throughout North America.
“This is an outrage,” said Conrad Fennema, AFGA President, “Government continues to go behind everyone’s back to try and bail out a few individuals who made bad business decisions in the first place when they got into the game farm business.”
He went on to encourage all AFGA members and the general public to get in contact with their local MLAs as well as the Premier and Agriculture Minister to express their concern prior to the Bill’s second reading scheduled for some time during the week of March 14, 2011.
The Alberta Fish and Game Association is a not-for-profit volunteer organization proud to serve Albertans in the promotion of the wise use of our fish and wildlife resources and the conservation of their habitats and is dead set against game farms and any form of wildlife domestication. The AFGA has been active since 1908 and has a province-wide membership of more than 20,500 individuals spread among more than 90 affiliated Clubs.
Link to MLA contact info:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=mla_home
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CONTACT: Conrad Fennema, President, (780) 986-5845
Martin Sharren, Executive Vice President, (780) 437-2342


















































