Cattle-killer destroyed
by Cat Urbigkit
Last Thursday, federal wildlife officials destroyed a male wolf that had
been confirmed as killing cattle on several occasions in the last two
years.
According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report, the Green River
pack, which consists of a gray and a black pair with pups, attacked a calf
on July 12 on a Bridger-Teton National Forest grazing allotment in the
Upper Green River region.
“The calf lived but had its tail snipped off and hindquarters bitten,” the
report stated, adding that there was no control authorized at that time.
Two other calves were confirmed killed on July 14. According to the
report, the radioed wolf pair was involved in calf depredations last year,
and the alpha male wolf was shot from the air on July 17.
“If problems continue, the alpha female will also be killed,” FWS
reported. “We will be attempting to place any sub-adults we can catch in
captivity.”
Wolf problems have subsided, and bear problems are appear to be quieting
as well.
Wyoming Game & Fish Department bear management officer Brian DeBolt said
after moving a male grizzly bear out of the Upper Green River region a
little more than a week ago in response to cattle depredations, there has
been at least one more kill, but the guilty bear evaded capture.
DeBolt said wildlife officials set a trap for the bear, but after three
nights the bear didn’t return, and the traps were pulled. No further kills
have been reported, DeBolt said Tuesday morning.
In other wolf news in the western portion of the state, wolf neck snares
with stops were set under an elk-proof fence on a ranch in the Sunlight
Basin area where wolves had been coming through and killing livestock.
Captured wolves were to be radio-collared and released on site, but over
the weekend of July 12, a sow grizzly bear with two yearling cubs came by
and one yearling crawled under the fence and was killed by the snare,
according to FWS.
WG&F was notified and all snares and traps were immediately pulled,
according to FWS.
“We now recognize that wolf neck snares should not have been used in bear
habitat when bears are out under any conditions,” FWS reported. “Leg-hold
trapping will continue to be used for both control and monitoring
purposes. The ranch made several modifications to the fence to try and
reduce the number of spots wolves can get in, but smaller wildlife can
routinely go under the fence in various places.”
In the Dubois area, on July 16, two dead calves were discovered on a
Forest Service grazing allotment. Grizzly bear and wolf tracks were
present. Federal wildlife officials investigated and determined that the
two-day-old calf carcasses were wolf depredations.
“An uncollared, suspected sub-group of the Washakie pack that uses this
area has been involved in several other cattle depredations,” FWS
reported. “The two radioed members of the main pack of Washakie wolves
have denned some distance away and do not appear to be using the area
where the depredations are occurring.” Federal officials plan to trap,
radio-collar and release a member of the uncollared group.
“It will be briefly monitored via telemetry to make sure no pups are
involved and then, if possible, the entire sub-group will be removed,” FWS
reported.