The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) has a long-standing interest in the impacts on agricultural operations of elk, reintroduced into Ontario in the late 1990s. Over the intervening years, we have repeatedly advocated for a means for farmers in the reintroduction areas, particularly Bancroft North Hastings and Lake Huron North Shore, to have options available to respond to elk damaging agricultural property.

We applauded the Ontario Government’s initiative in 2010 to amend the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to enable the Ministry to issue authorizations to farmers, to harass or kill elk. We actively participated in consultations with your Ministry on the development of the “Policy for Protecting Agricultural Property from Elk”, which came into effect January 2011.