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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

OR: Previously unconfirmed wolves kill calf in Wallowa County

George Plaven of The East Oregonian

Wolves are responsible for killing a domestic calf on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in northern Wallowa County, according to the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife.

The carcass was found Wednesday in the Cougar Creek area, about 30 miles north of Enterprise, where wolf activity had previously been reported but never confirmed until now.

ODFW believes at least two or three wolves were present when the calf was killed. An investigation of the scene showed fresh tracks, scat and bite wounds consistent with the predators.

While the department had received irregular reports of wolf activity in this remote part of the forest, Wednesday’s discovery is the first evidence of more than one wolf taking up residence in the area. Little is known so far about these particular animals, though they do not appear to have come from any other known pack.

Biologists will attempt to collar one of the wolves in order to learn more about the group’s behavior, including information on territory, breeding and pups. ODFW must also designate a new “area of known wolf activity and area of depredating wolves,” before working with local livestock producers on a site-specific conflict deterrence plan.

Under management regulations, the department has 14 days from the first time wolves prey on livestock to develop a deterrence plan that outlines the general area, as well as ways ranchers can protect their operations using non-lethal measures such as range riders or fladry fencing. It takes at least four “qualifying” incidents within a six-month period before ODFW can even consider lethal take of wolves.

Spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said the deterrence plan will be specific to the area, but likely look similar to other plans already established with the Imnaha, Snake River and Umatilla River packs.

Those plans, as well as additional information about gray wolves in Oregon, are posted online at www.dfw.state.or.us/wolves.

ODFW officially counted 64 wolves across the state at the end of 2013, though recent developments suggest the population is on the rise. In northeast Oregon, the previously undocumented wolf OR-26 is possibly raising pups in the Mount Emily wildlife management unit near Meacham. Prior to that, tracks were found in Union and northern Baker counties, leading to an Area of Known Wolf Activity in the Catherine Creek and northern Keating units.

Gray wolves are listed under the state Endangered Species Act, and federally protected west of highways 395, 78 and 95.

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