BONNYVILLE – Coyotes are keeping MD of Bonnyville residents busy.
During council’s regular meeting on Wednesday, March 11, general manager of environmental and protective services Matt Janz explained this year is “on track to be one of our busier years for the coyote reduction portion of the coyote and wolf program.”
“To date, 12 wolves have been brought in and 1,415 coyotes since we started the program Dec. 1, (2019),” he noted, adding he believes increase in coyotes is due to a healthy population.
“It’s our goal to have that because they’ll do what coyotes do. They’ll prey on mice, go out to the bush, and do what they do. If they have a healthy population, they’ll stay in their natural habitat. If they’re not healthy and sick, they’ll prey on the most easy pickings and that’s when they get into livestock and cause problems that way.”
The number of wolves is on par with what the municipality has seen historically.
“They go to areas where there’s lots of food in an abundance, so they mostly feed off of moose and deer,” Janz noted. “Maybe there’s not a lot of that in the area, so they might have moved over to another area. They’ll travel many miles to go where the most food is.”
He added, “Our typical number of wolves has come in between 30 and 40, and a typical year for the coyote program is in the 1,200 to 1,300 animals. We’re seeing a bit of an increase there.”
Reeve Greg Sawchuk believes the numbers show that it’s working.
“We still hear from a number of residents, ranchers in particular, that say the program is still needed.”
The MD has been running the incentive program on and off since the early 2000s. It began after concerns were raised by farmers about the predators getting at livestock. The municipality reaches out to landowners to determine how long to run the program each year. This season, it was launched on Dec. 1, 2019 and will run until March 31.
It’s open to residents from the Town and MD of Bonnyville and City of Cold Lake. Those interested in participating must be licensed to trap and have permission to hunt on private land. Once the animals are counted by the MD, the hunter can do what they wish with them.
Hunters will receive $15 per coyotes and $75 per wolf, which Janz noted was because “it’s a lot more work and intensity to catch wolves.”
Each fall a survey is conducted to see if there’s a need to run the program.
Janz detailed, “The intention isn’t to kill off the coyotes and wolves, and we’ve made that known that our goal is to have healthy populations. As for predation of livestock, we’re still seeing very limited predation, so we’re happy with that. We’re not having it where farmers come in and say they’re losing calves to the coyotes, so we’re happy with the program.”
