ROUGH RURAL ROADS:
Protecting the hillsides
KAP says it’s hazardous out there » PG 3
Manitoba escarpment program launched » PG 8
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 73, No. 29 | $1.75
July 16, 2015
MASC explains why sometimes it defers hail claims Assessing loss is easier when the crop is still young or has set seed and harder in between those two stages
manitobacooperator.ca
Tracking the elusive but destructive wild boar The highly reclusive wild boar may be responsible for much more crop damage than previously thought
BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff
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s this summer’s hail claims roll in, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation’s assessment practices are being questioned by farmers who say the agency is too slow to cut a cheque. (MASC) says its spot loss hail insurance program is similar to what private hail insurance companies offer. But at least one Manitoba farmer disputes that and says he knows several other farmers whose crops were recently damaged by hail who feel the same. The farmer, who asked not to be named, said he signed up for MASC’s hail insurance because coverage was automatic so he didn’t have to remember to buy it and because MASC told him it would settle as quickly as private insurance companies. But this farmer says MASC is deferring settlement instead of cutting him a cheque.
Researchers believe wild boars are more prevalent than many people realize. photo: courtesy ryan brook
See HAIL on page 7 »
By Shannon VanRaes Co-operator staff
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
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uth Kost has never seen a wild boar before but she’s hoping that will change after a summer spent tracking the elusive beast. “They don’t like to show themselves,” said the University of Saskatchewan master’s student. “They are kind of reclusive, they avoid people… and they’re very aware of hunting pressures.” But just because you don’t see something, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. And so Kost is hopping into a rental truck and heading across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to speak to people who have seen wild boars, visit sites where dam-
age has been caused by the animals and make contact with hunters and locals who have knowledge of feral pig populations. “It’s a means of collecting scientific data, it’s just not the usual way,” she said, explaining the habits of wild boars make conventional tracking difficult. So instead of laying eyes on them directly, the researcher will be relying on first-hand accounts and anecdotal evidence.
Elusive Kost’s academic super visor has seen plenty of the largely nocturnal animals, but not without going to great lengths. Recently, he embarked on Canada’s first feral pig radio collar program in the hopes of establishing
their patterns, habitats and potential spread. It wasn’t easy though. “We were hoping to capture them on the ground with traps and collar them that way, but it was not particularly successful,” said assistant University of Saskatchewan professor, Ryan Brook. “They are incredibly smart and adaptable animals, so we didn’t trap a single one. We had to bring in a helicopter and capture them using a net gun fired out of the helicopter.” In the the end, Brook’s team was able to collar five wild pigs in Saskatchewan’s Moose Mountain Provincial Park last March. The next phase of the project will focus on animals in and around the Turtle and Duck Mountain areas.
“We’re looking at southeast Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba,” he said, adding invasive species don’t respect borders. It’s that lack of respect that prompted the United States Department of Agriculture to fund Kost’s research.
U.S. problem The wild boar population in the U.S. is significantly larger and more established than that in Canada, and officials there are concerned their efforts to control feral pigs could be complicated by new populations moving south. “In the U.S. they were introduced when they were brought over by early explorers in the 1500s, and they have pretty See WILD BOAR on page 6 »
TPP: U.S. threatens to exclude Canada » PAGE 20