http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/03/07/4936541-sun.html

Fri, March 7, 2008
Bloody deer cull spurs protests
UPDATED: 2008-03-07 01:49:58 MST

EDMONTON -- A rising body count has fuelled protests by Provost-area residents against a government deer cull designed to stop the spread of chronic-wasting disease (CWD).

The latest pictures, snapped Feb. 28 about 16 km north of Provost, by a member of the Provost and District Fish and Game Association, show the grim reality of the systematic killing.

Bloody deer carcasses litter the snow-covered fields.

A helicopter carries the bodies, dangling by cables, to an eight-metre deep pit.

Dave Schmidt said association members consider the cull to be overkill and resent the province's methods and the cost of the cull.

But he adds that a protest campaign targeting Ted Morton, the current minister of sustainable resource development, is helping publicize their concerns.

"We're just trying to offer ways and means of doing what they're doing," he said.

In a letter to the Provost News, Morton last month he described the cull as a tough but necessary measure to stop the spread of CWB from Saskatchewan.

"Once the program and the testing of the animals are completed, we plan to hold public open houses to share the results," he said.

Department spokesman Darcy Whiteside said the cull has turned up three positive cases of CWB this year, with seven pending.