Cluster of local producers have a problem with missing and dead livestock and there are three predators on their most wanted list

Retractable claws make this track on Hrabec's property most likely a wild cat — Retractable claws make this track on Hrabec’s property most likely a wild cat

Only two weeks after the Tofield Mercury reported a couple of dozen calves, cows and yearlings possibly killed by a pack of wolves at the Blackfoot Grazing Reserve, farmers near RR 170 and Highway 14 between Ryley and Holden report similar occurrences.

“I am missing eight livestock,” said farmer Gene Hrabec. ” I have found a few carcasses, but nothing much left of them.” Five of his livestock have gone missing with no trace whatsoever.

“Scavengers are so thick in that area right now, I really can’t be certain what it is.” Hrabec says several of his neighbours have also experienced missing cattle or calves, and it all seems to be within a few kilometres of one another.

“I’ve found some tracks, and I have found carcasses of some of my neighbour’s livestock,” he said.
The Mercury compared the sets of prints Hrabec found with wild animals known to be in the neighbourhood and suspect one set to be of a wild cat, and the other of wild dogs… For more see the Oct. 7/14 Mercury