Wolf resolution on agenda at SARM convention

With wolves continuing to be a problem for livestock producers, rule changes that might make it easier for farmers to kill them are on the agenda with rural leaders this week.

A resolution concerning wolves is among the items under consideration at the annual convention of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), which runs March 9-12 in Saskatoon.

Delegates from the RM of Pittville, in the southwest corner of the province, say they want to see the province reclassify wolves so they can be killed the same way as coyotes.

They say wolves are responsible for substantial financial losses to farmers because they maim or kill livestock.

People are getting worried about their little kids in the yard.- Larry Sletten

They're also worried that wolves are becoming domesticated. They say they're often not scared of humans or machinery and are thus a threat to farm families.

"There is getting to be a few packs of them around, and they are not afraid of people,"  Larry Sletten, reeve of the RM of Pittville, told CBC's Blue Sky.

"They are approaching farmyards and endangering the livestock and people are getting worried about their little kids in the yard."

The resolution calls on the Ministry of Environment to give wolves the same classification as coyotes, although it doesn't provide details on how that would help.

"We just want to see them classified more under the same category as coyotes, where the farmers — if they are a threat to their yards — they can destroy them," Sletten said.

According to the 2014 Saskatchewan hunters' guide, coyotes may be hunted year-round in many (but not all) areas of the province.

Wolves are classified as big game and must be hunted during wolf season.