COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • DECEMBER 2019


Emergency plans top agenda for bison ranchers


Wild game animals require different protocols by TOM WALKER MERRITT – You have to


make allowances in your plan when you’re working with a wild animal. That was a common theme of the morning sessions at the BC Bison Association conference in Merritt, October 25. Reviewing a draft of the


industry’s proposed emergency response plan developed with the help of Taylor Jeffery, a livestock technologist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture, topped the agenda. “An emergency response plan has two important roles in your business,” says Jeffery. “It is an emergency guide for your ranch operations and it helps to inform others how to assist in an emergency, whether it is your neighbours or first responders.” The conference was the first time Jeffery reviewed the plan face-to-face with association members. Development was done via conference calls with the association’s board. He led the group through the initial steps bison ranchers would take in writing an emergency response plan for their operations. “This would be similar to


other regulated industries such as cattle, swine and dairy,” he notes. But managing bison in a


wildfire situation presents unique challenges. Bison react differently in


the threat of a fire, president Conrad Schiebel pointed out. “Where cattle may be


relatively easy ahead of a fire, bison, being wild animals, have a very strong sense of self-preservation,” he says. Best practices for


relocation in a fire emergency prompted a lively discussion. Steps for other livestock usually call for relocating animals to a safe location on- ranch first, then moving them off-ranch. “How is that going to


work?” asked Bernard Vere of Pentangle V Bison Ranch in Merritt.


Bison are difficult to herd and corral, and require steel panels and other significant infrastructure to contain them in a small area. Ranchers have the infrastructure (corralling pens and heavy duty chutes) to load animals onto a liner, but that gear is key to holding and returning the animals as well. Vere said ranchers might


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