DECEMBER 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
Compensation possible in Island sheep kills
Verification a stumbling block for farmers bearing losses by TOM WALKER
METCHOSIN – Black bears on southern Vancouver Island continue to enjoy a steady diet of tasty Metchosin lamb with no quick resolution in sight. Parry Bay Sheep Farm
owner John Buchanan reports that some 68 sheep have been lost to bear kills this summer at the farm in a rural area just west of Victoria. “You can’t tell us to take our lumps,” says an exasperated Buchanan. “That represents about 15% to 20% of the local breeding stock. It’s simply not sustainable.” There are a number of issues at play, says Buchanan, including the presence of bears in the area, a lack of verification specialists, his farming system and an apparent lack of support from the province. “When we were kids, we
never even saw a bear scat,” he says. “I have been losing on average 25 sheep a year, and about 22 of those have been cougar kills.” Bears – until recently –
have been less of a problem. “We have been used to the occasional bear,” he says. “We had one for a couple of years that liked our apples better than the lamb.”
Some neighbours snapped photos of the bear up a tree with his sheep underneath waiting to eat apples that the bear dropped.
Shooting ban But about five years ago
more bears started moving into the area and things have changed. Buchanan attributes it to a no-shooting bylaw being adopted in Sooke, which separates Metchosin
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from the rugged forests of the island’s west coast. A similar shooting ban exists in Cowichan to the north. “I know that I have lost 18 sheep to bears for sure this year, and it could be up to 25,” says Buchanan. Confirming the kills is difficult, however, because there’s no one on-island able to provide official verification. Verification is the first step towards mitigation. While the BC Cattlemen’s
Association administers the Livestock Protection Program (LPP), which has hired and trained 46 wildlife specialists – all licensed trappers – its mandate is to address wolf and coyote predation. Bears are the responsibility of the BC Conservation Officer Service, which has just two officers serving southern Vancouver Island. “Sometimes, it takes them a while to get out to the kill,” says Buchanan. He says local scavengers will quickly clean up the animal remains and it can be hard to identify the predator. “Sometimes, all we find are a couple of tufts of wool.”
Buchanan hopes to take the LPP verification course and be licensed to do his own verification. The bears preying on his animals seem to be transient, making control even more difficult. “These particular bears
don’t seem to stay and finish a kill,” he says. “They move on to the next pasture looking for the next meal.”
When John and his wife
Lorraine first set up the grazing system for their ranch, it was designed for the south island landscape. The farm leases 68 pastures
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WE’RE NOT LUNCH! Sheep on Vancouver Island have become prey for bears this past summer. Parry Bay Sheep Farm estimates it’s lost upwards of 68 head to bear. BARBARA JOHNSTONE GRIMMER PHOTO
scattered between Sooke, Metchosin and across to the Highlands area, just north of Victoria.
The sites can be hard to track but the area yields good grass for his sheep and pastures are a good use of the five to 10-acre parcels that make up a good portion of local farmland. “It’s not set up like a
commercial sheep farm in other areas of BC, but it’s worked here for the last 35 years with low predation,” says Buchanan. Best practices such as the buried fences, bright predator
lights and dogs and llamas that protect flocks at other ranches would be financially impossible for Parry Bay’s network of pastures. Buchanan says he has yet
to receive any compensation for his losses, but he’s raised the issue with the province. “We have been talking with
the government and I’m pretty confident we will get something and that it will be retroactive,” he says. “We’ve reported them all to [the Fish and Wildlife Branch]; they know the problem is there.” He says the matter is now squarely in the government’s
court. “These are the queen’s bears and if the queen wants us to use the farmland, we need some support with the predators,” he says. In the meantime, he’s doing his best to learn how to live with the bears, knowing that many local residents don’t want to see the bears destroyed.
“I am going to a
‘Co-existing with Carnivores’ meeting next month to see if we can work something out,” he says. “Maybe we can get more bears like the one we all took pictures of.”
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