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 concerningwolves 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, saythey want to see the province reclassify wolves so they can be killedthe same way as coyotes.

They saywolvesare 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 thatwolvesare becoming domesticated. They say they'reoften 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," LarrySletten, reeve of the RMofPittville, 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 theMinistry 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," Slettensaid.

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 wolfseason.