By The Associated Press
BAKER CITY, Ore. — DNA samples may tell whether it was a wolf that attacked a pet dog about 10 miles west of Baker City and was chased off by gunfire from the dog’s owner.
Jay Ogg said he had just let out the family’s two dogs on Sunday morning when he heard one squeal.
Ogg told the Baker City Herald said he looked outside and saw what he described as a wolf, about 20 to 30 feet from the back porch.
In its mouth was the head of Taz, a Shih Tzu.
Ogg said he went outside and fired his 10 mm Glock pistol in the direction of the animal, not intending to hit it but just to scare it away.
After letting go of the dog, Ogg said, the animal moved toward his wife, Genie, but ran after a few more rounds.
“It wasn’t scared of us a bit,” he said.
The home is at the base of the Elkhorn Mountains. District wildlife biologist Brian Ratliff says the agency hasn’t confirmed that wolves are in the range, but there’s no reason they couldn’t be.
A search of nearby woods turned up tracks from two “large canids,” Ratliff said.
He’s sending feces and hair he found for DNA testing at the University of Idaho and expects results in about two weeks.
The Oggs moved to the house in August with their three children.
Jay Ogg has set up motion-sensing trail cameras near his home. Ratliff said his agency will install cameras on nearby public land.
Ogg said he has seen large canine tracks in the snow this winter. Neighbor Raymond Griner said he saw an animal three weeks ago he figured was “just an overgrown coyote,” but he wonders now whether it was a wolf.
As of the end of 2012, the state had counted 46 wolves in northeast Oregon. That’s the minimum number the state has direct evidence for. That doesn’t include the noted wandering wolf OR-7, who recently returned from California.