Warning issued by wildlife officials for Slave Lake

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"Watch out for the elk with orange and red tags. Do not kill and if you do, do not eat," said Andy Davison, Fish and Wildlife Officer in Slave Lake, located 280 km north west of Edmonton.

"Some of the elk have been shot with tranquilizer guns and our concern is that a hunter may kill one for food and may be affected with the sedative from the drugs in the gun. The drug usually stays in the animals' system for a couple of months," he said.

The elk were shot with tranquilizer guns after they were caught roaming around the towns of Slave Lake, Canyon Creek, Wide Water and Wagoner.

"We heard reports that some of the elk displayed some sort of aggressive behavior towards some kids in the communities," said Davison. "So we decided to remove them from the town sites, just to be on the safe side. They will be calving in the next few weeks and will be protecting their young, so they will be more aggressive," he said.

The drug in the tranquilizer that they use is an experimental drug.

"I'm not sure how it would affect humans. No one has come forward to say that they've had a reaction to the drug," said Davison. When tranquilized, an animal usually experiences the loss of control of its muscles, dizziness and then becomes drowsy and eventually falls asleep. This enables the Fish and Wildlife officers time to remove them from the area.

"Some of the elk have also been radio collared and we've been flying over them to monitor the area they are in. So far we found that they've split up considerably," said Davison.

On Feb. 15 the elk were moved to the area from a park in Jasper.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation approached Fish and Wildlife in Slave Lake and asked if they would be willing to take in 125 elk to establish a herd. However, Fish and Wildlife wanted to see if this idea would succeed first so they agreed to take in 50 elk instead. Part of the plan is to increase the elk herds.

The elk are part of a plan by fish and wildlife to preserve and breed them with other elk around the area. There was an agreement with the Aboriginal bands around the area that the elk would not be killed.

"They come from an area where they are protected so they are not afraid of humans. We do not want them to come into the communities. We want them to be comfortably away from human contact," said Davison. "They may approach a hunter and the chances of landing on someones' table may be a possibility," he said.