Farmers struggle with wildlife balance

March 24, 2026

key points from this story:

• Farmers face rising wildlife conflicts
• Elk herds increase crop and feed losses
• Government offers eight depredation permits
• Ban on strychnine frustrates gopher control
• Officials seek balance between farm and wildlife
• Wild habitat loss drives animal encroachment

The agriculture sector generally likes to suggest it is pro wildlife conservation, but that support really seems restricted to wildlife relegated to locales as far away from farm and ranch land as possible. A moose, or elk roaming among the tamarack and muskeg of the province’s north are great. And, a few critters on fringe farmland are tolerated – at least to some degree.

But, if wild populations show the adaptability to successfully grow numbers to suddenly impeach upon general farm operations in a negative way agriculture is ready to draw the line in the sand and bring out the traps, rifles and poisons. We see gophers spotting a pasture and worry about injuries to livestock stepping in the holes, or damage to equipment – the gopher homes being like street potholes to navigate. It is why many producers were less than pleased when Health Canada denied the 2026 request from Saskatchewan and Alberta to use two per cent liquid strychnine for Richardson's ground squirrel control. The federal ban, implemented in 2024 following a 2023 provincial phase-out, prohibits the toxin due to risks to non-target species.