If you have a serious coyote problem in your area, putting your family and livestock at risk, contact your local Conservation Officer for information about what you can do to remedy the problem.
Also:
Contact your Saskatchewan Crop Insurance. As of 2010, SK Crop Insurance has implemented a program to aid farmers with livestock loss due to the serious coyote over-population and the problems/losses it creates. If you have had an animal fall victim to a coyote attack, you can take the following steps:
1. Locate and preserve the kill site as best you can, covering it with tarps and such.
2. Contact your local Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Agency and request an adjuster be sent out. Adjusters will try to arrive the same day you find the kill site.
3. Upon an adjusters confirmation, a professional coyote hunter can be called in – the expense covered by Crop Insurance.
4. Carry a camera during calving season, foaling season, lambing season, etc. Often times, farmers have come upon coyotes eating the not yet fully born baby animal. A picture is worth a thousand words…
Sometimes, it is not always possible to locate the kill site or the remaining carcass (which can be devoured and scattered), along with various other reasons. However, this is an option for some farmers, given the right circumstances.
Remember: Always – Safety First.
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The following article was inspired after conducting more research, reading forums where this debate has been held and other opinion pieces.
NOTE: Whether opposing or promoting coyote hunting, I don’t mind people sharing this article or other information on their websites, etc. - PENDING either my name (Sheila Bautz) or my website receives credit for the article; OR written permission is granted by me. (As it has recently been brought to my attention that the article below has been copied and pasted to other sites without permission or crediting the source.) Thank you!
It can also be found on my other blog www.rampageous.wordpress.com
Common Sense Needed Before Criticism for Saskatchewan Coyote Bounty and Those Burdened With the Responsibility to Remedy Over-population
February 24, 2011 – Sheila Bautz
Last year, the Saskatchewan Government placed a bounty on coyotes, paying $20.00 per coyote. A total of 71,000 coyotes were turned in, making the payout reach nearly 1.5 million dollars. Naturally, critics stepped forward – critics claiming to care about wildlife in Saskatchewan. Through various avenues on the internet, some attempted to create the impression that farmers financial losses (in one instance, farmers losses were minimized as a mere few thousand dollars) did not justify a near 1.5 million dollar payout on coyotes – while putting coyote population at risk.
We all have an opinion. Free speech is a wonderful thing. Critical thinking and retrieving the facts are equally important in wildlife conservation efforts and responsibilities to it before misleading the public with no real investigation or direct experience with a dangerous problem. By thinking logically and truly analyzing every side of this issue, it becomes apparent that many of the well-meaning debates in defense of coyotes are not rational.
The fact is that each individual farmer loses thousands of dollars in livestock per year due to coyote problems. Coyotes that begin eating innocent calves before the birthing processes are complete. The truth, starting with the economical side, is: A few thousand dollars are not the total loss for all of Saskatchewan farmers. Instead, when one farmer loses his first calf, it is a financial loss anywhere from $600.00 to $1,200.00 per calf, ultimately. One calf. This does not take into consideration the value of other livestock, such as horses and goats for instance.
One goat producer reported 40 goats and lambs fell prey to coyotes, averaging $200.00 per goat/lamb, resulting in an $8 000.00 loss for that farming operation in one year. Coyotes also pack and terrorize young domestic horses, killing and consuming them. I know first hand, because coyotes ate three of my young horses to date. The losses far exceeded the monetary.
Coyotes will opt for an easy meal – and pets and fenced in domestic livestock qualify.
According to 2001 statistics, Saskatchewan had 44, 329 farmers farming an average of 1,450 acres each. It is important to keep in mind that small acreages – 40 acres and less – are not considered farms, and it is reasonable to say that the animals on those acreages were not considered part of farming operations. From this number, 24.3% of farmers in the province are livestock producers – about a quarter of all farmers. A quick estimated calculation (on the low end) shows that about 10,000 farmers raise livestock. Due to predators, mainly the coyote, a low estimate for livestock loss can reasonably be said to average $2,000.00 per year per farmer becoming a $20 million dollar loss for livestock producers each year in Saskatchewan. We are talking about a substantial amount of money. Even by cutting this low estimated loss by half to $10 million still results in a lot of lost income to support farming families in one year.
In 2007, the Leader Post reported that the average farmer makes a meager $17,000.00 per year – working year round. Working longer hours and making less money. Farmers who provide food and services that are required for all people to survive.
Considering that 71,000 coyotes were killed in Saskatchewan in 2010, areas are still grossly over-populated. In 2010, the problem could no longer be ignored. That year, Crop Insurance also initiated a program to compensate for livestock loss due to coyotes. Certain steps need to be taken, such as proof – the animal owner needs to locate and preserve the bloody kill site and remaining carcass the best they can and call an adjuster. Then, professional coyote hunters can be called with Crop Insurance covering the expenses. It can be a difficult process, but it’s a good start. Or, a farmer can legally opt to protect their families and livestock - it’s open season on coyotes.
Perhaps, farmers should start carrying their cameras when checking their livestock during the birthing season, the farmer distressed at the scene but with shaking hands, capturing on film the image of coyotes terrorizing the maternal animal as she gives birth to a new life that coyotes view as a delicacy. Releasing those images to the public may prove more enlightening and educational for some.
Coyotes are predators. What some consider myths about coyotes attacking children, others know as truth. They have also proven to have no vices about endangering human life. Their sense of boundary has become skewed and needs to be re-set. I was horrified as a coyote trotted into my farmyard, dangerously close to my young child. I was also approached by a large coyote in my pasture – three dogs with me – and that coyote held his ground and would not back down. My nature walks came to an abrupt halt. Nature walks I enjoyed, observing the various wildlife from owls to hawks to eagles to deer – well, you get the picture.
With the increasing coyote over-population problems and my first hand experiences, my views have changed when it comes to hunting coyotes. To love nature is to truly respect it on all levels, including its dangers. To love nature is to aid in keeping populations at a healthy level.
The fact is that the coyote’s main predator, whether accepted or not, is the human race. Humans. Men and, in some cases, women. Natural selection in the wild does not control the coyote populations – unless they contract and spread horrible diseases and sicknesses amongst each other due to over-population, such as rabies and mange, making the coyotes more dangerous. Humans are needed to control coyote populations, especially in geographic areas where the coyote’s animal rivals do not readily exist – mountain lions, bears and wolves. Interestingly, the latter – wolves – have been scientifically proven to mate with coyotes in the wild, creating a hybrid known as the coy-wolf. Talk about sleeping with the enemy. The hybrid is a much more efficient and intelligent wild canine who poses heightened threats.
And so, humans must carry the great burden and responsibility of coyote population control – a responsibility necessary that is under fire by some who perhaps do not realize this aspect. Nature, you could say, selected humans to aid in the circle of life, in the population control of the coyote – a twisted plot.
Hard and fast opposition to coyote hunting demonstrates an inhumanity, a lack of compassion for rural members of the human race, small children, domestic animals and, ironically, wildlife. Whether or not those imposing such opposition intend this to be the perception or not, it is there.
The very people who provide food for human consumption – the farmers who are also hunters – are the ones forced to carry the burden and become the targets of criticism regarding coyote population control. Insulted and degraded at times as “uneducated”. I guess, for the good of all, someone has to do the dirty work while the well meaning couch critics implement a self-righteous stand from the comforts of their dwellings, eating the food harvested by farmers who work the land and understand the balance of life and its necessity to the natural and civilized world. Farmers, living with and experiencing actual field studies of the coyote and its true habits.
I am grateful for those, who to date, were willing to carry the burden of coyote population control, albeit many times forced to do so in order to protect their families and livestock. Thank you. And, thank you, Saskatchewan government, for understanding a serious rural issue and having the courage to be responsible enough to bring it to light.
… 71,000 coyotes killed in the large province of Saskatchewan in 2010 - and some areas are still over-populated…
Small sample of reference links:
Canadian Geographic Blog. “Coywolves not so coy” Accessed 02-22-2011 http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/blog/posting.asp?ID=251
Contrarian. “A shocking coywolf attack in Cape Breton – updated” Accessed 02-22-2011. http://contrarian.ca/tag/coywolves/
Coyote Predators. Accessed 02-21-2011. http://people.westminstercollege.edu/faculty/tharrison/citycreek/coyotes/predators.htm
Pilot Program Reduces Coyote Numbers – News Release – May 26, 2010. Accessed 02-21-2011. http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=91315bf4-90dc-4620-ad3ef912a72d6a5d
Sharp decline in number of farms in Saskatchewan. 2001 Census of Agriculture – Agriculture in Saskatchewan. Accessed 02-21-2011. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2001/first-premier/regions/farmsask-fermesask-eng.htm
Saskatchewan farms on the decrease: Statistics Canada. Accessed 02-21-2011. http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=df6bc26d-420a-4cca-9c9f-7753ef1235c7&k=17645
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