- Staff
While a recent wolf pack attack on a farm located north of Rimbey has resulted in the loss of three llamas and an alpaca causing considerable hardship for the owners, the attacks are not out of the ordinary and should not cause any alarm to other producers, according to the Alberta Fish and Wildlife Department.
The attacks, which occurred on or around Saturday, February 21, involved the wolf pack and the exotic animals however the farm doesn’t actually raise llamas and alpacas, but, in fact, the animals were there to protect a heard of cattle numbering 35. And while llamas and alpacas could easily fend off or even kill a single wolf, the situation obviously changes dramatically when dealing with a pack.
“David went out in the early morning that day to check for newborn calves in the field south of our house where the animals were being fed. During calving, we prefer to keep the animals closer to make it easier to assist any that are having trouble calving,” said Kathy who, for personal reasons, requested that their last names not be published.
“In the past, we have only lost a couple of calves over the years due to coyotes, so we purchased our first llama because we had heard that they were good at protecting sheep and some had used them for protecting their beef herds. After purchasing Woody, we had experienced no more losses to our cattle herd until now however, as fish and wildlife told us, they would not be able to fight off a pack of wolves.”
“Well it’s a normal situation we do get from time to time with a wolf pack that will come through the area and for whatever reason, they will switch from their normal prey species which is mainly deer, rabbits and that sort of thing, and pull down a livestock animal. So it’s not unusual by any manner of means – it does happen from time to time,” said Rocky Hornung of the Wetaskiwin office of the Alberta Fish and Wildlife Department, who also offered a bit of advice for those who suspect their livestock has been taken by a predator.
Most importantly, Hornung said it is critical to contact his department as soon as possible following the attack to ensure that the carcass is still fresh, fresh tracks are still visible and that smaller scavengers such as coyotes and ravens have not found the carcass. Even better, Hornung highly recommends covering the remains with a tarp to ensure a better chance of determining what form of predator was responsible.
He added that while we are currently in calving season and reports have been received of calves have been taken down by coyotes, the compensation packages offered by the government does not include attacks caused by coyotes.
Unfortunately for David and Kathy however, they will be unable to apply for compensation for their lost animals.
“It is true that there is compensation for livestock animals taken by predators but only if they are raised specifically for meat,” Kathy said. “Ours were not as they were for predator control and we are not seeking compensation in this unfortunate incident. They were only doing what they were supposed to do and protecting our herd. Having said that, they were successful as the wolves did not get any of our cattle.”
“Also, landowners need to be aware – and sometimes there’s a bit of confusion out there about wolves because of some of the attention that’s been paid to them,” Hornung added, “but farmers and ranchers, on their own property, are well within their rights, if they see wolves on their land, they can shoot them whether there’s been a kill or not.” Those rights are also extended to those who rent or lease land for livestock production.
Most importantly, Hornung said residents must accept the fact that we reside in a very rural area and that the attacks are part of the great circle of life, especially considering what this area was like 50 or 60 years ago, and even further back.
“Traditionally, if we look back over the last probably 100 years, this area was traditionally prime wolf, cougar and bear habitat. It’s only probably since about the 1940’s when significant amounts of land was being cleared for farming and agriculture to a greater extent, resulting in more open area, cultivated land and pasture land,” he said. “So it’s not surprising. Some people have sort of forgotten that prior to the 1940’s, there was a lot more bush throughout this area and it was prime natural habitat for predators. So again, it is nothing out of the ordinary to have wolves come through, to have the odd cougar pass through the area or even the odd bear.”
He said for the most part, there are not a lot of problems of conflicts involving predatory animals and livestock but the odd one does occur adding that in this particular case, he believes the problems have been resolved.
“We know at least two wolves out of that pack have been taken and possibly a third and it now looks like over the last four or five days, that this pack has moved on,” Hornung said. “We haven’t been able to find any signs that they are still in the area. We have however, had indications that there has been a group been seen in the area of the Medicine Lake grazing lease area, so I suspect they could be back in there or have maybe even moved further west of Alder Flats in the Crown land area.”
He added that while the problem appears to have been resolved, the Department will continue to monitor the area as well as speaking to local farmers and producers.