A homeowner in the RM of Springfield is advising his fellow residents to be wary of wolves after a wild animal slaughtered his sheep.

Kam says he was first made aware of the incident when he went to attend to his livestock, near Vivian, a few days ago.

“I was feeding my animals in the morning but after I fed my horse I couldn’t find my sheep," tells Kam, "I started looking around and then I suddenly saw their bodies in the distance. So I went over there and looked at them and they had been killed.”

Judging from the nearby tracks, Kam expects the culprits were a couple of wolves. Further sightings reported by residents in recent days have confirmed that suspicion.

Kam says four young sheep, a lamb, and a three-month-old puppy were the casualties from the attack.

“Honestly, I’m not happy about this. I’m not happy at all. I only had a few sheep and they killed them all. And some of them were eaten.”

Kam says the loss was not easy to take. “Anyone who has ever owned sheep will understand what I feel. You do all of the work, you take care of the young ones, you make sure they are healthy and then in one night everything is destroyed.”

Typically, Kam says he keeps his animals fenced up at night to protect them from predators such as wolves and coyotes but on this specific occasion, he says the electric fence was not activated. 

One of Kam’s neighbors, Brigitte Compton, owns Sandhill Ridge Farm. While she expects her small collection of horses, sheep, and cows to be okay she says the attack has made her uneasy.

Kam says hobby farms and small scale agriculture is common in his region and he cautions his neighbors, like Compton, to take preventative measures where necessary.

“If you have a good fence, and a good guard dog you should be okay,” he says.

A wildlife spokesperson from the province agrees that electric fences and dogs are the best means of protecting livestock. In the Protection of Property subsection of The Wildlife Act, the province also states that “a person may kill or take any wildlife, other than a moose, caribou, cougar, deer, antelope, elk or game bird, on their own land if they are doing it to defend or preserve their own property.”