Red Deer County council has given final reading to two bylaws related to wild boars in the municipality. The moves came during the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
The bylaws prohibit the keeping of wild boars within Red Deer County and set out penalties to be applied for contraventions of the prohibited animals bylaw.
Bylaw No. 2016/25 makes it unlawful to have wild boar in the county. The bylaw was given first and second reading last month.
The bylaw prohibits having wild boar on any properties in the county on either a temporary or permanent basis, regardless of parcel size or land use district.
“Any prohibited animals located with the county must be euthanized or removed from the county within seven days of receiving written notice from a peace officer; the cost of removal will be at the sole responsibility of the landowner,” the bylaw reads.
Bylaw No. 2016/26 sets out penalties for violation of the new wild boar prohibition. The first offence penalty is $4,000, second offence $6,000, and $8,000 for third or subsequent offences.
The county received a letter from resident Jack Oszli in opposition to the changes.
“Wild boar raised free range is a much healthier choice than our present day pork on the shelf raised in confined feed lot operations,” he said. “I know of a few owners of wild boar who have had them for many years with no issues. I think they get a bad reputation because people confuse fact with fiction about them, sort of like retelling a fish story.
“I believe the county could put forward a reasonable but higher standard (of fencing), working with the farmers who want to pursue this as an agricultural commodity turning it into a win-win situation.”
The county has also changed the definition of agricultural operation in the municipality. The move came by way of third motion to the amending bylaw during the Sept. 20 council meeting.
“During the process of drafting a bylaw to ban wild boar farming operations within the county, it was noted that an amendment to the definition of agricultural operation should also be adopted,” county manager Curtis Herzberg said in a briefing note to council.
The new definition reads: “the raising of livestock, including game-production animals within the meaning of the Livestock Industry Diversion Act, and poultry, with the exception that raising wild boars is prohibited.”
