Saskatchewan’s agriculture ministry has launched a pilot program to thin out coyote packs threatening farmers’ and ranchers’ livestock.
The province’s new coyote control program, which will pay hunters $20 per coyote they kill, begins Tuesday (Nov. 10) and runs until March 31, 2010, at which point an extension will be considered.
“Many Saskatchewan farmers and ranchers are struggling to protect their livestock from coyotes,” Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud said in a release Tuesday.
“I hope this program helps address this serious issue and I appreciate (the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities) and its members working with us to deliver the program.”
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Local RMs will verify the kills and will require four paws to be presented as evidence of one kill. Coyotes killed in any Saskatchewan RMs between Nov. 10, 2009 and March 31, 2010 are eligible for the bounty.
Hunters will have to submit a declaration form to the provincial ag ministry to get their compensation. Those forms are available at RM offices, regional ag ministry offices, or online.
The program is limited to Saskatchewan residents legally able to hunt or trap. The province warned eligible hunters to respect public safety, landowner rights (by seeking permission to hunt on private and First Nations land) and no-hunting zones, including provincial parks and trapping blocks.
The province noted Tuesday it’s also working with the environment ministry to expand its list of trained personnel (such as the Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board’s predation control officers) licensed to use sodium monofluoroacetate, also called Compound 1080, to help control coyote numbers.
The ag ministry said it’s also enhancing the provincial Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) program to provide funding for sheep producers to build fencing to protect animals from predators.
“In many areas of the province livestock producers have been experiencing losses due to the high coyote populations,” SARM president David Marit, a councilor in the RM of Willow Bunch, said in the province’s release Tuesday.
“We appreciate the provincial government has recognized this problem and has introduced this new program.”
