Imnaha pack wolves killed a cow Sunday at a ranch on Upper Imnaha Road, state wildlife managers confirmed.
The fatal attack, confirmed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s wolf investigation team, was on a yearling heifer on private land, according to ODFW’s initial statement about the incident, released Monday morning.
The cow was part of Eric Porter’s herd at Grouse Creek Ranch.
According to Porter and Wallowa County Stockgrower’s Association president Todd Nash, ODFW telemetry from the radio collar of the Imnaha pack’s alpha male placed that wolf, known as OR-4, at Grouse Creek Ranch on Sunday morning.
Porter said the telemetry data indicated the wolf was actually in the very field from which the victim cow was chased. That was around 5 a.m. on Sunday, he said. Workers for the ranch found the cow’s carcass approximately a mile from the field about four hours later.
Porter said the cow was one of 81 that were scheduled for transport Monday to a southwest Idaho feedlot, where they would spend the winter.
The rancher said the cattle were badly spooked, apparently by wolves, early Sunday morning, causing them to run through a four-string barbed-wire fence, knocking down approximately 150 feet of it.