Researcher finds parasites in park elk; critics suggest links to Alberta game farms 

The discovery of a European stomach worm in elk in Banff National Park is renewing concerns about the impacts of game ranching on wildlife populations in Alberta.

“It’s quite the mystery as to how wild animals in a relatively remote and isolated national park have become infected with this parasite,” said researcher Nathan deBruyn.

A masters student at the University of Calgary, deBruyn obtained DNA markers for a nematode called spiculopteragia boehmi from a dozen dead elk.

The presence of the parasitic stomach worm may have implications for birthrates and over-winter survival of the elk in the long run, he said.

The worm could also spread to threatened caribou populations that share ranges in both mountain national parks and provincial lands.

Jesse Whittington, a Parks Canada wildlife specialist for Banff National Park, said deBruyn’s findings raise a “caution flag.”

He said Parks will investigate the new parasite when assessing the health and condition of elk, especially those animals that have died with no obvious cause of death.

“We will continue to monitor the spread and severity of this parasite through our disease monitoring program,” he said.

Jasper National Park wildlife biologist Geoff Skinner said elk in the northern Rocky Mountain park have not exhibited any signs of infestation, but samples from road kill will be tested.

Animals in poor physical condition and higher than normal rates of calf mortality – the usual indicators of parasites or disease – have not been seen in elk or other ungulates in Jasper, Skinner said.

The parasite is spread through animal feces, and could infest other ungulates such as threatened caribou that share grazing areas with contaminated elk, he said.

“Most of the road kill we’ve seen so far this year has been in good condition, so there is no indication of a problem here,” Skinner said.

deBruyn can’t say how the parasite arrived in Banff but suspects it’s a result of recent elk relocations in the province, or from domestic livestock that also carry the worm. 

The only other previously known occurrences of the parasite in North America were in Texas, Ontario and Quebec – all jurisdictions where game farming has been prevalent.

The presence of the worms comes as no surprise to Darrel Rowledge, a long-time critic of game farming, who points to outbreaks of chronic wasting disease (CWD) among wild deer populations in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

In an effort to contain a spread of CWD said to originate from Saskatchewan game ranches, Alberta has slaughtered 5,000 deer since 2001 in the border area of the province.

Rowledge said that hundreds of elk are known to have escaped from Alberta’s 400 game farms and most of them have never been recovered.

“They are known to travel great distances; an animal radio-collared in Sparwood, B.C. turned up in Nordegg.” said Rowledge.