Hunters have turned over 72,000 coyote paws to the Saskatchewan government since November, representing 18,000 animals killed under the province’s coyote control program.
The program was introduced in response to complaints by producers across the province about high livestock losses due to coyotes.
Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said he’s pleased with the response but hopes the number will increase substantially before the program ends March 31.
“For this to really do the job that we had hoped it would do, we’ve got to be at least 30,000,” he told reporters.
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The government is paying a bounty of $20 for each animal killed, so 30,000 dead coyotes would cost taxpayers $600,000.
An average of 25,000 coyotes per year have been killed through hunting and trapping over the past seven years, according to Saskatchewan Environment statistics.
The numbers vary from year to year, depending on the market value of the pelts.
Only 17,700 coyotes were killed last year because of low prices, which Bjornerud said has resulted in a larger population and increased predation.
Coyotes have also become bolder, coming into farmyards during daylight hours when farmers and their families are outside.
“This made it necessary to implement a program to help protect the livelihood of our livestock producers and keep their families safe,” he said in a news release.
Currently 241 rural municipalities are participating in the bounty program, representing 80 percent of the province’s RMs.
Saskatchewan is the only prairie province with a bounty program in place for coyotes.
There is widespread support for the program among livestock producers, but it’s not unanimous.
Lorri Nelson, a sheep producer from the Meadow Lake area, said killing local coyotes has harmed her animals.
She said her guardian dogs had trained coyotes in the area to stay away.
“I hadn’t had a coyote in my yard since 1999,” she said. “We didn’t have a problem with coyotes at all.”
After someone shot the coyotes in her area, new ones that hadn’t been trained to stay away came into her farmyard on two nights and injured sheep.
She said after about a week, the new coyotes appeared to learn the boundaries, and there hasn’t been a problem since. Her fear is someone will shoot the new coyotes and the problem will start over again.
“We don’t want to see them extend that bounty (beyond March 31),” she said.
Nelson had a message for hunters looking to cash in on the bounty.
“If they’re near a sheep farm that has guard dogs and they think they’re doing sheep farmers a favour, they’re not.”
