By Rob Ruth
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH – A recent lull in the Imnaha Pack’s stock attacks ended abruptly last week as the wolves injured at least three cattle, one of them a 2-year-old bred heifer that soon required euthanasia.
Wallowa County Commissioner Susan Roberts, who attended the wolf depredation investigation Thursday, March 8, at rancher Dave Talbott’s property approximately 13 miles east of Joseph, said Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife investigators confirmed wolf bite injuries to three of Talbott’s cattle. While one of the animals appeared to be on the mend, two others were faring poorly at the time of the investigation. Roberts said one, an 8-year-old cow, had developed a fever but might survive. The third animal, the 2-year-old heifer, was euthanized on the recommendation of a veterinarian at the scene.
The veterinarian determined that the heifer’s dire state resulted not only from bites and trauma, but as well from “the stress of being run to avoid being eaten,” Roberts said.
The veterinarian also determined that the heifer’s unborn calf was already dead. Roberts said the cow was probably within two to three weeks of calving. She added that the veterinarian believed injuries were three to five days old, placing the attacks within a March 3-5 time span.
Roberts said the attacks occurred despite extra measures Talbott had been taking lately to protect his cattle against wolves known to be in the area. Neighbors had been helping, but in the end the wolves got the cattle anyway. “He was very upset,” the commissioner said.
Wallowa County on Friday submitted a supplemental request of $1,500 to the state’s wolf depredation compensation fund, reflecting the average value of a bred heifer in the 2- to 5-year age range. Only four days earlier, on March 5, the county had submitted another supplemental request, this for $10,000 for non-lethal prevention. The county’s main request for the year, made in February, totaled $27,230. With last week’s supplementals, Wallowa County now has $38,730 in detailed needs before the state veterinarian and a committee assembled by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
A scheduled March 12 meeting of the ODA committee to consider all requests from Oregon counties for money from the compensation fund was rescheduled to March 14, Roberts said Monday. The fund has $100,000 for the current budget year.
Before last week’s confirmed wolf attacks, the Imnaha Pack’s most recent kill was an outfitter’s mule whose remains were discovered Jan. 13. A week earlier, on Jan. 7, the wolves attacked and killed a 10-month-old replacement heifer.
All of the attacks took place east of Joseph.