The UPA is asking for help to launch a rescue operation aimed at recovering a herd of cows on the run that is causing damage to the land of farmers in the Mauricie region.
In a message shared on Facebook, the Mauricie UPA Federation is looking for volunteers ready to come and lend a hand to participate in this operation which will take place on Sunday.
Twenty animals are free near Saint-Sévère after escaping from their enclosure in July. They managed to dodge previous attempts to capture them. Even a team of cowboys from Saint-Tite did not succeed.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Quebec (MAPAQ), which described the situation as “complex and unprecedented”, sent a team to implement a plan to capture the herd.
The mayor of Saint-Sévère, Jean-Yves St-Arnaud, told The Canadian Press on Wednesday that the municipality had tried in vain to ask the government for help, but the MAPAQ and the Ministry of Wildlife told him that they didn’t take care of farm animals.
Mayor St-Arnaud estimates that the animals caused between $20,000 and $25,000 in crop damage by lying down in soybean fields and chewing corn cobs. The municipality was not informed of the run until October, when the heifers began to roam on residential lots and in the streets.