I never thought I would have one of these things sitting 60 ft from my bedroom window!

Over the weekend, our farm was attacked twice by two separate grizzlies. We raise miniature donkeys out here in Sundre and on Friday we lost the first of 2 donkeys.
Fish and Wildlife caught the first grizzly on the neighbors property, a 600lb male and relocated him before we got a chance to get pictures of him. Then thinking it was all over, we get nailed again by a 511lb male Sunday morning. Fish and Wildlife caught him about 200 ft from our house Monday morning. Have you ever heard how mad a grizzly gets when he is caught in a snare trap? We listened to it from midnight to 7 am waiting for Fish and Wildlife to show up.


We lost two of our most prized animals, the first leaving a 12 day old foal behind and the second being the only one of it's kind in Canada, a rare Blue Eyed White. Going to be very hard to replace her.

But the big question is.......Why are there two grown males in the same area? What's keeping them here? Everyone is saying there is a female around. Just what we need.

Jeff

 

Very sorry for your loss! hopefully they catch the female if there is one around there, hopefully you dont come around a corner and find a bear looking at ya, walk lightly and carefully!!

I dont know anything about bears but it seems strange that a bear would go livestock at this time of yr, I thought they mostly feed on berrys and such.

again sorry for your loss
Nick

 

Post removed due to the use of profanity.

 

Read about your loss in the paper----sorry---sister has a few donkeys on her place north of Peace River.Hunted your the area for 30 years,taken a lot of deer/moose from there.Kinda second guessing heading out that way alone any more---wife tends to put the gears to me when i head out alone.Talking to the neighbors hunting buddy---he packing a .45 for elk/sheep hunt this year on his side just in case.DW

 

Sorry to hear about the animals
The one looks young, maybe second year Momma may have just scared him off due to the new family .
We used to hunt in pairs up north (yukon) we carried 45,50 Cal hand guns and or 50 cal slug gun
plus our long guns
We used to practice with the slugs on rolling tires on a hill Hill Billy skeet shooting

 

That's a darn good question Jeff, hopefully there isn't a female around. Saw you guys on the news the other day, sorry you lost 2 donkeys. F&G culled 5 bears from around my friends property just west of Calgary last summer, 3 grizzlies and 2 blacks all within a 4 section area. Farmers were losing cattle big time.

 

Now all you have to do is guess where the cougars are and your livestock will be completely safe. This is a sure sign that the food in the hills is less than plentiful for these guy's and grizzlys will travel up to 15 miles per day to feed themselves. I know you told me where you were at but close to the river or creek = berries, water & a place to knap in the trees. Tie empty pop cans on the wire of your fence and it acts as both an alarm and scares them away unless they are really hungry and nothing will stop them. Donkeys are known to make a stand against bulls and stop fights in a closure, however this behavior makes them prime targets to the afore mentioned critters while trying to protect the others.

 

We ended up getting a call from Fish and Wildlife last night saying there was a large Black bear spotted crossing the road 6 km's from our place. With all the scent's used for baiting purposes in the traps, the herd is locked down at night just in case.

Not to worried about cougars, this herd has already taken out a cougar, not on this property though. They can look after themselves there although I'm not saying it couldn't happen. Coyotes and wolves are not a threat at all.

Wasn't expecting the coverage thru the media that we got. Of course, they blow it out of proportion to make the story more exciting. Our intent was to get the public aware that there is a bear problem. Fish and Wildlife as well as the tree huggers and the Greenpeace clowns make it out that there is a small number of these animals out in the wild and they should be protected. We, as well as a number of people around here plan on changing that outlook, there is a major problem with bear activity out here.

Time will tell I guess.

Jeff

 

You are absolutley right about the bear population problem. Grizzlies are showing up everywhere They have been spotted east of #2. The greenies would have you believe that there is only a handful of them left . F&G in Cochrane area "quietly" eliminate at least 6 of them every year. They have been a problem in B.C for a long time but apparently they know where the continental divide is and they don't cross over into Alberta riiiggghht!.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the purpose of these donkeys? Are they traded/collected?

 

They are great herd protectors for other other animals against coyotes,wolves and cougars

 

The "purpose" of these animals is many things.

People buy them as pets, they buy them for herd protection (goats, sheep, horses, etc) Some people use them for equine events (pulling, jumping, show arena, etc)

We use them for therapy riding and touch therapy for handicap and mentally and or physically challenged children and adults. Also, the seniors go nuts for them. We take them down to the seniors homes and let the old folks visit with them as well as we get bus loads of seniors showing up here and they go crazy over them. It's worth all the effort to put a smile on a seniors face when they get to visit with the herd.

As well as we get ton's of people bringing their kids to the farm so that they can see and pet the girls. The donkeys love the attention and want as much as they can get.

Jeff

 

thanks-just wanted to know.