The Wildlife Damage Compensation Program provides:

• 100 per cent compensation on damage caused by white-tailed deer, mule deer, antelope, elk, bears, moose, bison, wild boars, ducks, geese, beavers, blackbirds, gophers and sandhill cranes that have not been held in captivity.

• Compensation for flood damage to seeded crop and tame forage due to beaver  structures.

• Wildlife damage compensation is available on claims $150 and over.

• Initial payments are made at 75 per cent of crop prices determined by a survey conducted in September. Final compensation values are set based on a six-month average price survey conducted from September to February. The crop grade at harvest is used to determine compensation rates.

• Compensation is also available for cleaning excretacontaminated grain. The rate is set yearly based on a summary of licensed primary elevator tariffs and cleaning charges. SCIC staff must identify excreta contamination while crops are still in the field. Excreta compensation is not deducted from subsequent yieldloss claims. A handling allowance is available to producers who submit a receipt for cleaning their excreta-contaminated grain. This allowance is paid at 100 per cent and may vary yearly.

• For Crop Insurance customers, wildlife losses do not affect long-term individual yields. A customer’s yield before wildlife damage will be used to calculate their long-term yield.

Compensation is not paid on:

• Volunteer crops
• Crops planted too late in the season to produce a normal yield
• Crops seeded on land considered unsuitable for crop production
• Crops left out where harvest was generally completed in the area

Crops eligible for compensation include:

• All seeded commercial crops, including crops not currently insured by SCIC
• Stacked hay, silage, and bales
• Crops used for alternative feeding systems
• Market gardens, tree nurseries, sod farms, honey and leaf cutter bees, including their structures:

– Compensation is not retroactive; it is paid from the date damage is reported. 

– As soon as damage is detected, notifiy SCIC. You will be compensated if all reasonable prevention measures have been taken. In order to receive compensation, hay must be put into stacks. Producers will not be compensated for unstacked hay left in fields unless it is part of an alternative feeding system.

To qualify for crop loss compensation, producers are required to allow hunters reasonable access to farmland where wildlife damage occurs.  Situations where it is reasonable to restrict access include:

• Protecting persons, buildings or property
• Protecting livestock in a manner consistent with normal livestock operations
• Controlling and/or restricting vehicle travel
• Managing or limiting the number of hunters

To control and limit wildlife damage, producers must implement reasonable prevention measures. These include:

• Working with SCIC to protect stacked feed, silage, sod farms, market gardens and bales from big game animals
• Working with the Saskatchewan Bee Keepers Association and SCIC to protect bee structures
• Working with the rural municipality to eliminate the beaver problem
• Using scare cannons to control waterfowl damage

If recommended preventative measures are not followed, SCIC may limit or deny claims.

The Wildlife Damage Compensation Program will not continually pay compensation on beaver claims for the same flooded land. If the producer cannot demonstrate they implemented prevention and/or control methods, they may not be eligible for compensation in future years.

It is important to contact your local customer service office prior to harvesting or feeding and grazing any damaged crop so that it can be assessed. Compensation is provided
on a spot-loss basis; compensation will be based on the yield loss of the crop in the damaged area.

If you must harvest, feed or graze before an adjuster can inspect the crop, the entire damaged area plus a representative portion of the undamaged crop must be left
for inspection. Annual crops should be standing or left in swaths. If you have not made every effort to complete harvest of annual crops in a timely fashion, compensation
may not be paid. Grain crop claims will not be paid after November 15 or when harvest was generally completed in the area.

If you are unable to harvest, feed or graze and further damage occurs after inspection, call your customer service office for a reassessment.