Cattlemen get wildlife depredation compensation in the law book

Washington Ag Today May 11, 2009 Five years of hard work paid off during the recent legislative session for the Washington Cattlemen’s Association. Governor Gregoire last week signed House Bill 1778, which establishes a state compensation plan for commercial livestock producers who have their cattle, sheep and horses injured or killed by cougars, bears and wolves.

Jack Field, executive vice president of the Washington Cattlemen Association, says the next step is getting funding for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to pay depredation compensation.

Field: “My goal is to try and have something, if we can, in the supplemental budget. That may be very difficult but that certainly is my goal and priority.”

Field says the law bases compensation on fair market value but has payment caps so that a purebred or prize animal alone doesn’t deplete funding.

Field: “We agreed that at this time we felt at this time it was best to incorporate a 15-hundred dollar cap on cattle and horse damages. We spoke with the sheep producers and came to the agreement to a $200 cap per animal on sheep.”

Field says it’s important to have this compensation plan on the books, particularly given the return of the wolf to Washington. He says since public laws and regulations restrict what livestock owners can do to protect their animals from predators, it is only fair the public pay for losses from them.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.