Interesting commentary on a local (Thunder Bay Ontario) radio , phone in talk program . A fellow and his dad went bear hunting a few weeks ago and both scored . His bear had a tag in it's ear with a phone number , so he called the number . It was Ministry of Natural Resources in Toronto . They transfered his call back to the MNR office in Thunder Bay and a Conservation Officer picked up . Apparently the C.O. had darted and tranquilized the bear a few months earlier and transported it to a remote location . The C.O. told the fellow not to eat the meat as two chemicals are used . The first is to tranquilize and the second is an injection to waken the bear . The tranquilizer stays in the bears system for 3 months and the antidote stays for up to one year . Health Canada advises that both agents are toxic and not to be consumed .
The fellow asked the C.O. if every tranquilzed bear is tagged and the answer was no . About 1 in every 20 tranquilized bears are tagged . There is a law against letting game meat spoil but no way of knowing if the harvested bear is safe to consume or not . No way of knowing if your bear was tranquilized within the last year or not . 19 out of 20 don't get a tag .
I listened to this fellow but have no idea what the chemicals are so if anyone knows anything about this , please post .
The fellow asked the C.O. if every tranquilzed bear is tagged and the answer was no . About 1 in every 20 tranquilized bears are tagged . There is a law against letting game meat spoil but no way of knowing if the harvested bear is safe to consume or not . No way of knowing if your bear was tranquilized within the last year or not . 19 out of 20 don't get a tag .
I listened to this fellow but have no idea what the chemicals are so if anyone knows anything about this , please post .