REGINA – Larry Knelson predicts what the result of government regulations will be for producers.
“You’re going to have to stop raising sheep,” he said. He thinks government controls on poisoned baits and using firearms are going to make it impossible to survive as a farmer.
Knelson, who raises sheep near Hodgeville, Sask., was outraged by recent comments Saskatchewan resource management worker Wayne Harris made at a sheep conference in Assiniboia.
Harris suggested trying to poison or shoot all coyotes and other predators is futile, and producers should attempt to make sheep or other domestic animals so hard to get at that predators won’t try. He suggested using fences and guard dogs.
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Knelson said the suggestions are unworkable.
“That’s like trying to fence you out of my house. If I’m the only guy that’s got food, you’re going to get in. Even if I shoot at you a couple of times,” Knelson said.
“Nothing works except the poison. They’d better get that through their heads,” he said.
Strict provincial controls apply to poisoned baits. They have to be approved by wildlife officials. The province will not allow indiscriminate use of poisoned baits because they kill any animal that feeds on them, not just the coyotes, Harris said at the conference.
But Knelson said poisoning is the best way to control predators. Shooting them is difficult even without restrictions, he said, but gun laws make killing coyotes this way next to impossible.
“You’ve basically got to have the gun laying on your lap, loaded, if you’re going to get a shot at a coyote where I live,” he said. “You’ll get one shot. That’s it.”
But gun laws make people separate their guns from ammunition, and having to stop a truck, load the gun and take aim usually means there’s nothing left to shoot at, Knelson said.
Killing predators is also getting more difficult because producers can’t hunt them by plane, on snowmobiles or, in many places, by running hounds.
Wildlife officials say they are trying to protect wildlife and endangered species by regulating gun use and poisons. Knelson said they also want to stop coyotes from being killed.
“Why are they fighting it so bad” if they’re not trying to protect coyotes? Knelson asked. “The good Lord put that coyote there to be harvested. One way or another.”
Knelson said government regulations against poisoning and using firearms are going to make honest producers criminals, and that will cause trouble.
“Guys are going to do it, and when they catch them they’re going to throw them in jail. When they start doing that somebody’s going to get hurt,” he said. “We are pushed to the limit.”
