After the death of her mare, Jo-Anne Chevalier, owner of a therapeutic equestrian center in Val-Rita, captures the owner of the Kap River Outfitters company and their bait that would attract wolves near her center.
Even though the outfitter known for wolf hunting can legally place its bait relatively close to Ms. Chevalier's land, she wants regulations to protect the animals to come into force. Farmers and breeders.
There must be laws that protect people in the villages. You should not attract wolves and coyotes here.
The resident of Val-Rita, west of Kapuskasing, is a proponent of hunting and trapping, but within two hundred feet of her land, which ends where Crown land begins.
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This pig, used as bait for wolves, is located less than a kilometer from Jo-Anne Chevalier's house.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Courtesy of Jo-Anne Chevalier
Two days before Angèle, her 30-year-old mare, was devoured from shoulder to nose, she asked Peter Martin, the owner of KapRiver Outfitters, to move her bait because she had seen a wolf in her yard.
The call went unanswered.
Since the incident, Jo-Anne Chevalier no longer feels safe at home and fears a wolf attack at any moment. “My grandson, who lives next door, always came here on foot,” she said, devastated.
Since the alleged attack on his mare, the boy has been traveling back and forth in the car with his parents.
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Jo-Anne Chevalier points out the tracks of wolves that have returned to the horse enclosure.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jimmy Chabot
Mrs. Chevalier is also worried about losing Bailey, her other mare, who AngÂle would have seen die in front of her eyes.
How to protect Bailey, an endangered horse left alone in the pasture during the day, asked Jo-Anne Chevalier on her Facebook page on Thursday.
Nothing illegal and skeptical of the version of facts
Peter Martin, owner of KapRiver Outfitters, gained worldwide fame by offering the opportunity to hunt wolves.
It primarily attracts hunters from Denmark, Russia and all American states.
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Hundreds of Americans have learned about Peter Martin's expertise, as evidenced by the photos in Peter's basement.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jimmy Chabot
Peter Martin's bait is legally on Crown land, he assures.
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is watching me closely, he says. I have no flexibility, it has to be completely legal.
During hunting season, bait used for wolf hunting may not be placed within 500 meters of a home unless a permit is available. This was written by the owner and can be found on the provincial government website.
It's not me who brings the wolves. This is their country [aux loups]“It’s their home, that’s where they live,” the Franco-Ontarian hunter said in a raised tone, finishing his sentence in English.
He adds that Ms Chevalier's land is in the forest and that she was aware of the risks of settling there.
To say that it is I who bring the wolves, no. That is wrong, defends the entrepreneur.
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Peter Martin questions the version of fact presented by Jo-Anne Chevalier.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jimmy Chabot
I have never seen a wolf kill an animal [bétail]. I've never heard of that here before. “It surprises me that Ms. Chevalier's horse was killed and eaten by wolves,” says Mr. Martin, who is skeptical of this version of the facts.
He claims that the mare died due to her advanced age.
Maybe he died of natural causes and then the coyotes came and nibbled on his neck. A wolf would have started eating it from the stomach. […] He ate almost everything within 3-4 hours, says the man who has been watching wolves for almost 40 years.
Not an isolated case
Sylvain Gagnon, a rancher in Fauquier, east of Kapuskasing, recognized himself in Jo-Anne's story, which went viral on Facebook.
Last year two of his calves disappeared and he also blames Peter Martin, who caught the wolf about two kilometers from his home.
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Sylvain Gagnon and his family have been raising cows since 1965. He claims to have never heard of such a situation in the generations before him.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jimmy Chabot
There was no blood, but there were wolf tracks. It was seen that they had left with the calves, he says.
After the incident, the farmer never dared to confront the outfitter because he didn't want to argue any more than necessary.
Crown land belongs to everyone to some extent, but it is clear that it should be used for purposes that do not harm others.
Sylvain Gagnon has already had to deal with other trappers in the region who warned him before setting traps near his home.
Mr. Martin does what he wants, when he wants. He doesn't care about everyone, shouts the farmer.
Could I warn her? “Yes, I could do that,” admits Peter Martin, who doesn’t warn the neighborhood because he’s on Crown land.
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Mr. Martin hunts near farms because there are few accessible roads in the winter.
A situation that has persisted on this Trans-Canada Highway corridor for too long.
This is Canada. It is a free country. “We relied on common sense, but there are people who don't have common sense,” says Sylvain Gagnon.
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Angèle, the horse that was killed, had appeared in the French magazine Chez nous.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jimmy Chabot
As far as I'm concerned, those stories from Mr. Gagnon, about poor Jo-Anne, aren't true. “I see no evidence that this is true,” the wolf hunter adds.
He believes that most stories about wolf attacks are fictional. He claims that no attack between a man and a wolf has been recorded in the country.
They would attack moose in the forest, but not pets, he swears.
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and the Northern Ontario Outfitters Association did not respond to our multiple interview requests.