By Connor Lynch
FINCH — Vincent Hanninan, who found six coyote carcasses on one of his fields, is one the latest area-farmers frustrated by negligent hunters.
The Finch-area beef farmer runs a small cow-calf operation along 80 contiguous acres between Winchester and Cornwall. On Feb. 17, when he drove out to check on his 13-head beef herd, he found six coyote carcasses, four of them skinned, dumped over the fence on his property.
It’s not the first time that’s happened. Hanninan has heard of another farmer who found 15 carcasses dumped on his property.
The 65-year-old farmer contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources, and was told that since the animals were on his property, it was his responsibility to clean them up. Fortunately for Hanninan, a hunter in the area offered to get rid of them for him.
OMAFRA deadstock rules would’ve given Hanninan 48 hours to dispose of a dead calf on his property.
Local goat farmer Theresa Bergeron, who keeps a small herd of especially woolly Angora goats along the main drag of South Mountain, has had her own run-ins. About five years ago, hunters let loose some dogs on her property, she said.
“They have hound dogs, put GPS collars on them and let them run free all over people’s private property,” said Bergeron. The hunters waited on roadways for their animals to flush out a coyote they could shoot, she said. It’s illegal in Ontario to fire a gun from a roadway. Since Bergeron got a pair of Great Pyrenees guard dogs, she no longer has a problem with coyotes or hunting dogs, she said.
Said Bergeron: “Unless you’re there to see them and catch it, nothing happens. These people know they’re breaking the law, but if they don’t get caught, they don’t care.”
