Reading Time: 2 minutes A tiny tapeworm that can make people seriously ill is now common in wildlife throughout Alberta, researchers at the University of Calgary’s faculty of veterinary medicine have found. The parasitic tapeworm called echinococcus multilocularis (E. multilocularis) is common in Europe and was first detected in wildlife in Western Canada in 2012. A year later, the […] Read more
Parasites in coyotes and foxes a threat to people, researchers find
Tapeworm common in Europe is now widespread in Alberta and is a serious health threat
New tapeworm species infecting people in Alberta
There have only been five cases so far but experts are urging dog owners to take precautions
Reading Time: 2 minutes There’s a new parasite in Alberta being spread by coyotes, but there is no reason to be overly alarmed, says an infectious diseases expert. “We’re definitely not trying to encourage wholesale panic,” said Stan Houston, a professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health. The parasite, introduced from Europe, is a potentially lethal […] Read more
Coyote compensation considered
Reading Time: < 1 minute Delegates at Alberta Beef Producers AGM last month defeated a resolution to put coyotes on Alberta’s wildlife predator list so producers could claim compensation when they killed cattle. It was defeated because of concerns about the sustainability of this type of coverage from the government’s coffers, and because coyote control was something that could be […] Read more
Could a cement mixer have a place on your operation?
Composting deadstock is no different than garden waste — except you need a really big composter
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’re in a wildlife corridor, the last thing you want to do is attract predators to your place. But that’s not easy if, like Marty Winchell, you’re raising sheep, pigs, laying hens and bees, as well as custom grazing cattle. Which is why there’s an old cement mixer sitting in his yard. His mixer […] Read more
Wildlife damage is a problem — but not reporting a bigger one
Program changes aren’t going to happen if producers don’t start reporting wildlife losses
Reading Time: 2 minutes Wildlife damage is a big problem across Alberta — but you wouldn’t know it from the number of beef producers reporting losses to the Alberta government. About 60 per cent of producers recently surveyed about wildlife damage said that they never reported losses from predators, while 80 per cent never reported forage competition from ungulates. […] Read more
Wildlife, predators costing Alberta beef producers millions
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ninety-four per cent of Alberta beef producers have suffered losses because of wildlife, a two-year survey by Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) and the Miistakis Institute has found. Eighty-one per cent of these were from ungulates such as deer or elk, 74 per cent from predators (such as wolves, grizzly bears, and including coyotes) and six […] Read more
Lamb producers tallying the cost of coyote predation
Coyotes are classed as pests, and so producers receive no compensation for lost livestock
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s always a nightmare when a sheep producer goes out into the yard and sees that an animal has been ripped apart by predators. “Some years are worse than others,” said Bill Gibson, a sheep producer near Bashaw. “We did lose 25 lambs one year in a short period of time, and that was very […] Read more
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