Alberta
Big bug benefits: Alberta scientist releases guide identifying cow dung insects
Alberta entomologist Kevin Floate is ready to start spreading the news that he has compiled a comprehensive guide into insects that live in cow dung in Canada.
Floate — a scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the Lethbridge Research and Development Centre in southern Alberta — said he started studying insects in cattle dung about 30 years ago.
At the time, he realized he needed one source of information to help get him started.
“It didn’t exist. So, here we are 30 years later, and I’ve written that guide and it’s intended for ranchers and farmers and students and naturalists,” said Floate, who has a doctorate in entomology and penned “Cow Patty Critters: A New Guide on Canada’s Faecal Friends.”
“Anyone who’s ever asked the question ‘What’s in dung?’ This is the guide that I’ve written for you.”
The humble cow turd, sometimes known as a cow patty, cow pie or cow chip, has a soft texture and tends to be deposited in circular shapes, inspiring its various monikers.
Beaver, Okla., has held the World Cow Chip Throwing Contest since 1969 and singer Jim Stafford penned the tongue-in-cheek 1981 hit “Cow Patti.”
Despite the potential for numerous scatological jokes, Floate said he doesn’t mind a bit of ribbing about his profession.
“I embrace it because it’s an unusual topic, yet it’s everywhere, ” Floate said with a laugh. “So, I don’t mind a bad pun, and when you work in cow pies, you get a lot of bad puns.”
Floate said he has spent much of his career looking at the effects of chemicals that end up in cattle dung, and the impact on the insects that live there.
He said an estimated 110 million dung pats are deposited every year in Canada.
He’s identified more than 300 insects in his dung detective’s handbook and only three are considered harmful: horn flies, face flies and stable flies.
He said others, like the dung beetle, can play an important role, especially in the pasture.
“Some of those beetles will put the dung underground in tunnels. The tunnelling increases the permeability of the soil to water and oxygen and the little packages of dung the beetles push underground are like little parcels of fertilizer and help the plants grow,” Floate said.
He said the actions of the beetles also disperse seeds and pollinate plants before they are eventually consumed by birds and smaller mammals higher up the food chain.
Float said the scattering of the fecal matter also reduces the number of pest insects that breed and bother cattle.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2023.
Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
From Bonnyville RCMP
On May 3, 2025, at approximately 6:55 p.m., a male suspect drove a stolen trackhoe into the parking lot of the Bonnyville RCMP. The suspect dumped several boulders in front of the prisoner bay and then proceeded to damage 5 police vehicles, which were parked in the lot. The suspect then fled on foot.
Bonnyville RCMP, Police Dog Services and RPAS (drone), searched for the suspect and he was quickly located in a tree line just north west of the detachment. He was arrested and is currently in custody pending a Judicial
Interim Release Hearing.
The suspect cannot be named at this point as the charges have not been sworn before the courts. An updated media release is expected in the coming days.
Alberta
Pierre Poilievre will run to represent Camrose, Stettler, Hanna, and Drumheller in Central Alberta by-election
From LifeSiteNews
Conservative MP-elect Damien Kurek announced Friday he would be willing to give up his seat as an MP so Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat Monday, could attempt to re-join Parliament.
Conservative MP-elect Damien Kurek announced Friday he would be willing to give up his seat in a riding that saw the Conservatives easily defeat the Liberals by 46,020 votes in this past Monday’s election. Poilievre had lost his seat to his Liberal rival, a seat which he held for decades, which many saw as putting his role as leader of the party in jeopardy.
Kurek has represented the riding since 2019 and said about his decision, “It has been a tremendous honor to serve the good people of Battle River—Crowfoot.”
“After much discussion with my wife Danielle, I have decided to step aside for this Parliamentary session to allow our Conservative Party Leader to run here in a by-election,” he added.
Newly elected Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney used his first post-election press conference to say his government will unleash a “new economy” that will further “deepen” the nation’s ties to the world.
He also promised that he would “trigger” a by-election at once, saying there would be “no games” trying to prohibit Poilievre to run and win a seat in a safe Conservative riding.
Poilievre, in a statement posted to X Friday, said that it was with “humility and appreciation that I have accepted Damien Kurek’s offer to resign his seat in Battle River-Crowfoot so that I can work to earn the support of citizens there to serve them in Parliament.”
“Damien’s selfless act to step aside temporarily as a Member of Parliament shows his commitment to change and restoring Canada’s promise,” he noted.
“I will work to earn the trust of the good people of Battle River-Crowfoot and I will continue to hold the Liberal minority government to account until the next federal election, when we will bring real change to all Canadians.”
Carney said a new cabinet will be sworn in on May 12.
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