Wildlife damage services available to producers losing livestock to predators
Colorado Department of Agriculture has partnered with the USDA APHIS Wildlife Services (WS-CO) program in northeastern Colorado to provide wildlife damage management services to producers experiencing livestock losses due to predation. As part of this service, predator damage management activities are provided to several counties within northeastern Colorado at no cost to the producer until the annual funding allotment has been exhausted. Currently, producers are primarily requesting WS-CO’s assistance when experiencing losses due to predators or as a preventative measure before livestock depredation has occurred.
Wildlife Services-CO has dedicated a full-time Wildlife Specialist to respond and assist producers in identifying losses due to predation, provide management recommendations, help producers obtain wildlife management permits, and provide on-sight expert knowledge and techniques in the use of predator mitigation techniques and equipment. At present, WS provides this service to 12 producers in 11 counties and anticipates that the demand for livestock protection services will continue to increase into the 2018 federal fiscal year.
Wildlife Services-CO has attended multiple livestock conferences and meetings throughout Colorado and in surrounding states. At these conferences and meetings, WS-CO provided educational presentations on how to properly identify predator damage, how to report damage and loss, who to report the damage to, and how to document costs associated with the loss of livestock. Any information gathered during these informative sessions with producers is documented and distributed back to CDA in an effort to ascertain the current need and preservation of the predator damage management program provided by WS-CO.
In an effort to provide information to more industry groups, the WS-CO Predator Damage Management Program would like to extend our outreach efforts and include more producers, professional organizations, county extension agents, and both state and local government affiliates. Please contact me with any outreach opportunities you feel would benefit from our services such as county events and local meetings, where we could set up either an education booth or provide a presentation. With your support our Predator Damage Management Program will continue to grow and provide assistance to the livestock community within northeastern Colorado and other areas of the state.
