Environment Minister Peter Jenkins is way out of line, says the former owner of the reindeer herd now under the care of the Yukon government.

Stella Gregory said in an interview today the minister has no business suggesting to the legislature what the Gregorys are seeking in compensation for the collapse of their Northern Splendor Reindeer Farm.

There was a figure put down in writing at one time. However, the government never responded to it, nor has Jenkins or anyone from his office approached the Gregorys recently to suggest the government is now open to negotiations, she said.

But Jenkins told the legislature Thursday the government has hired a firm to appraise the value of the 56 animals.

'As soon as the independent valuation has been completed, an offer will be made to the owners of these reindeer for that value,' the minister said during question period Thursday.

'If they accept it, fine; if they don't, well, we're at an impasse. They are still their reindeer, and they appear to have given up ownership.'

Earlier in his response, however, Jenkins said by all accounts, the Gregorys have transferred ownership to the government.

The minister was not available this morning to clarify whether it's his understanding the government now owns the reindeer, or the Gregorys, as he suggested both cases Thursday.

In a response last week, Jenkins said the Gregorys were seeking about $1.14 million in compensation. Yesterday, he reiterated they were seeking in excess of $1 million.

Stella and her husband, Tim, are adamant that the Yukon government has owned the animals for two years, ever since the Wildlife Act was changed and there was no provision for reindeer as a domesticated stock.

Without the designation, the Gregorys have maintained, the reindeer were automatically classified as wildlife, and nobody in the Yukon can own wildlife.

And with no apparent ownership, and no ability to sell wildlife, the Shallow Bay Road reindeer farm owned by the Gregorys has been burdened with the cost of feeding and caring for the animals with no ability to generate revenue from them, the Gregorys maintain.

The government took possession of the 56 animals March 30 and transported them to pens off the Mayo Road, after the Gregorys had threatened to let them go wild, as they could no longer afford to feed them.

Gregory said this morning she knew nothing of the government's decision to hire an appraiser. But she suggested it would be beneficial for the government to sit down and talk, so that both sides at least know where everybody is coming from.

Gregory said a compensation package from the government will have to go beyond the simple value of the animals. It will, she added, have to include compensation from the day when the Gregorys maintain the new wildlife legislation rendered their 17-year-old business inoperable.

'They turned a legal business into an illegal business, for taking away sales that year, for the next year's sales, feed costs, power costs, everything that we have incurred for the past two years when we have been looking after the animals,' Gregory said.

She also mentioned pain and suffering the couple has endured.

'Because, God knows, I have suffered so much pain,' said Gregory, clearly sounding emotional.

The government agreed a year ago to provide funding to cover the feed cost for the animals. When the Gregorys informed the government earlier this year they needed more feed, the government responded by saying it was no longer providing funding for feed.

The Gregorys eventually delivered an ultimatum to the government last month: because they could no longer afford to cover the feed costs, because they did not want to slaughter the animals, they would be opening up the gates of their pens March 30 so the animals could forage in the wild.

The government showed up with transport trucks that morning to take possession of the animals and move them to a new location.

'I am asking them to be open and honest like they promised they would, and that they are not,' Gregory said.

She noted she has worked sincerely with staff of the wildlife branch to teach them how to properly feed and care for the reindeer.

'I mean, we are the ones that are bending over backwards, and we are the ones who are the victims, and the reindeer, us and the reindeer, and we are bending over backwards and they are not bending a tiny bit.

'Isn't that shame on them?'

Cabinet spokesman Peter Carr said this morning that BDO Dunwoody, a national accounting and consulting firm, has been retained to provide the appraisal on the value of the reindeer.

The firm is the same one that provided the government with an appraisal for the multimillion-dollar purchase of the Yukon Wildlife Preserve from Danny and Uli Nowlan.

Carr said he didn't know how much the company is being paid to do the evaluation, nor when the appraisal is to be complete.

Also unavailable this morning is what's coming out of the public purse to feed the animals.

Opposition Leader Todd Hardy urged Jenkins Thursday to conduct negotiations with the Gregorys in good faith to reach a fair compensation package that would spare Yukoners the cost of a drawn-out legal battle.