Reducing human-wildlife conflicts

By Gary Sliworsky
OMAFRA Rep.

In May the Government of Ontario released two strategies aimed at preventing and reducing human-wildlife conflict. The strategies reflect the input of a number of provincial ministries and over 30 stakeholders.
The stakeholders included a diverse group of agricultural organizations, hunting and trapping organizations, animal welfare organizations, environmentalists, and conservationists.
Areas that stakeholders have identified for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and the Ministry of Natural
Resources (MNR) to address include:
*greater cooperation between OMAFRA and MNR on
agriculture-wildlife conflicts;
*promote awareness and information resources available to producers to manage agriculture-wildlife conflicts; and
*improve government tools and resources available for producers to manage agriculture-wildlife conflicts, including updating wildlife damage compensation programs.
The Ontario government is proposing an agriculture-wildlife conflict strategy to complement the province’s Strategy for Preventing and Managing Human-Wildlife Conflicts in Ontario (2008).
Components of agriculture-wildlife conflict strategy would include:
*the promotion of producer awareness through developing and enhancing information resources available to producers;
*improving programs/tools for producers; and
*greater cooperation between OMAFRA and the Ministry of Natural Resources to provide a coordinated response to the issue
There are also proposed changes to the list of eligible predators, livestock species available for coverage and the amount of compsensation.
For more information on the details of the strategy and instructions on
submitting comments, please see:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/discussionpaper20aug2010.h
tm