Cattle producer Art Jonasson has unsuccessfully lobbied the Manitoba government for two years to put a bounty on wolves and coyotes, but he now thinks he has a better solution.
Jonasson wants the government to pay $300 per wolf and $50 per coyote to reduce problem predators that attack livestock.
The proposal, which is supported by the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association, was rejected by the province’s conservation department, but Jonasson is not deterred.
He believes another level of government might be able to help.
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“What we’re looking at now is that municipalities may have the right to do this (create bounties) on their own,” said Jonasson, a cow-calf producer near Vogar, Man., and a MCPA board member.
He said municipalities may be enabled to enact bounties under a section of the province’s Municipal Act known as spheres of jurisdiction. When the Municipal Act became law in 1997, it gave local governments more leeway in 14 spheres, including providing services and passing regulations and enforcement measures.
Jonasson said that wider jurisdiction might allow RMs to put a bounty on livestock predators.
“If they (RM officials) feel it’s an important issue within their municipality, they have the right to set their own rules with the removal of problem animals.”
The RM of Glenwood is considering a bounty system to battle problem coyotes.
Denis Bauldic, Glenwood’s chief administrative officer, said the RM has contacted Manitoba Conservation about the issue. Glenwood councillors will consider their options, including a bounty, at the next council meeting.
Jonasson’s idea was inspired by cattle producers on Peonan Point, a remote peninsula at the north end of Lake Manitoba, who developed their own bounty system to combat timber wolves.
“They saw a drastic decrease in the loss of cattle.”
He said wolves attacking cattle is a significant problem for cattle producers, not only on the peninsula but in the expansive bush pastures north and east of Ashern.
“In the RM of Siglunes and the RM of Grahamdale …. It’s not a new thing. It’s been going on for years and years.”
Barry Verbiwski, head of Manitoba Conservation’s fur-bearing and problem wildlife division, acknowledged that wolf and coyote attacks are a problem for cattle producers in many parts of the province.
However, he said a bounty is not the answer.
“The word bounty, itself, conjures up all sorts of negative connotations…. We don’t condone bounties because it’s not animal specific,” Verbiwski said.
“In the bounty system every animal then becomes a target animal. We prefer to deal only with those animals that are creating a problem.”
He has heard of the bounty on Peonan Point but said livestock producers do have the right, under the Manitoba Wildlife Act, to kill predators that threaten their property.
They can also ask another party, such as a neighbour, to shoot the predator for them.
However, shooting a wolf on crown land under the bounty system would be crossing a legal line, he added.
Verbiwski said other options exist for controlling coyotes and the province’s 3,000 to 4,000 wolves.
Producers who suspect that a wolf has attacked an animal can contact Manitoba Agricultural Services, which will send a representative to verify the loss.
The farmer can then contact the Manitoba Trappers Association to have a trapper destroy the problem predator.
Jonasson said the weakness of that system is that it’s nearly impossible to prove an attack.
He said a neighbour recently rounded up his cattle on a large, wooded pasture southeast of Ashern and discovered that five calves were missing.
“You can’t prove that’s a wolf kill, but you know from experience it is a wolf kill,” Jonasson said.
He said cattle producers don’t want a bounty so they can eradicate wildlife.
“We’re not trying to kill all the wolves. It’s just there are areas where there is a problem where a pack decides it’s easy pickings to go after those little calves. Those packs have to either be moved out or trapped out or destroyed.”
