The Yukon must not mess around with the winter tick infesting the Yukon’s elk, says a career biologist.
Grant Lortie said to do nothing, to stand by and waffle with indecision, only increases the risk of the tick spreading to and devastating the moose and caribou populations.
If Lortie had his preference, he’d kill the 200-plus elk occupying the Takhini River Valley and Braeburn areas.
The animals are not natural to the Yukon, and do not do well here, he said in an interview Tuesday.
If it wasn’t for additional transplants to prop up the herd following the original transplant in 1951, it would be in poor shape, if not non-existent, Lortie suggested.
Before Yukoners get too far down the road with the development and implementation of an elk management plan, he said, there needs to be a complete assessment of the risk winter ticks pose to the territory’s natural populations.
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