Two bear cubs were destroyed by conservation officers and several thousands of dollars of livestock were lost after a farm sustained a series of attacks mid-May.
Patches and Tera Demeester own Wolfson Creek Farm, a 15-acre parcel of land where they raise a variety of animals for meat production.
“We are four years into just farming here,” said Patches.
“Local production is a hot topic and we’re the largest protein producing farm from Langdale to Lund by far.”
The family is one of the only in the district who work the land full-time, he added. They raise Dexter cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens and muscovy ducks. “Any kind of protein you can raise on a farm,” Patches said. “We’re very diverse. This hit us hard.”
The farm runs alongside Lang Creek, which was formerly known as Wolfson Creek. Aware of the threat passing wildlife poses to the farm’s operations, Patches said they have left the 12-acre parcel on the other side of the creek wild and undeveloped to give the bears, wolves and cougars a corridor along the salmon-bearing stream to Lang Bay. Patches said that they have also invested in electric fences and other fencing designed to make it difficult for wildlife to prey on their livestock. They also have livestock dogs on the farm to scare the bears away.
Countermeasures aside, as the Demeesters found out, when predators set their minds to prey on a farm’s livestock, nothing short of deadly force will stop them.
But, it is not the money the family has lost as a result of the attacks that is the hardest part to take—it was that the attacks ended the Demeesters’ experiment with community supported agriculture (CSA), something that has become increasingly popular in larger farming communities in the province.
Patches and Tera were working on their first CSA where the public sign up in advance for a portion of the meat that will be produced. “In this case it was a pork CSA,” he said, explaining that they bought 10 piglets and everyone put down $150 on their half. A half pig averages $500 when fully grown, he said. “That got us the money upfront to buy one third of the food and the piglet,” he added. “We were really excited about this and this is devastating.”
Patches said that over five days a mother bear and her three cubs attacked and killed 10 of their muscovy duck hens, several chickens and several of their piglets.
BC Conservation Officer Service was called to help with the problem bears, but it was not until after the pigs were killed that two of the cubs were destroyed. After that a bear trap was set on the property, but the bears did not return for food. Patches said he is concerned that a similar fate awaits the mother and her one cub with their new taste for livestock.
The Peak contacted the conservation service which provided general comments on the need for farmers to be aware and practice animal husbandry to protect their livestock.
The farm can recover from the loss, but the attacks have put the pork CSA on hold, Patches said. He will be contacting all the people who contributed to the CSA and will be refunding their money. He said he would like to try the project again, but next time he plans to give the project a little more leeway for losses.
