By LACEY JARRELL
H&N Staff Reporter
SPRAGUE RIVER — Two recent Klamath County livestock death investigations have yielded inconclusive results.
In one incident, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife District Biologist Tom Collom investigated the deaths of two lambs owned by Sprague River rancher Steve Van Sickle. Collom ruled that a wolf did not kill the lambs; however, he was unable to conclusively say what did kill them.
The deaths occurred on May 15.
“Our determination was that they were not taken by wolves,” Collom said. “It was very consistent with coyote damage. We suspect coyote based on the tissue damage and the extent of the tissue damage, and the shallow nature of the hemorrhage into the tissues.”
Another report filed later in the month said officials were unable to determine what killed a calf in the Williamson River area, but classified the death as a possible wolf depredation because GPS data from radio-collared wolf OR-25 indicated OR-25 was within 2 miles of the location where the carcass was discovered at the estimated time of death, May 22.
According to the report, “carcass remains were insufficient to determine if (wolf) predation was involved due to scavenging.”
Lamb attacks
Van Sickle, who has lived in Sprague River since the 1960s and who has raised sheep for more than a decade, said the depredation on his lambs was witnessed by John DeVries, who manages cattle on the property next to Van Sickle.
DeVries explained that on May 15, Van Sickle’s sheep were in his pasture. DeVries tried to push the sheep back to Van Sickle’s property, but they didn’t want to go.
DeVries said in the distance, about 300 feet away, a large gray animal with something in its mouth jumped up and ran off.
“He came to about a 5-foot fence and sailed right over it,” DeVries said.
In the spot where the animal had been laying, Van Sickle and DeVries found two dead lambs. One 50-pound lamb had its shoulder and head ripped off. The other lamb’s gut was torn open.
“We go out there and we’ve got two dead lambs — the blood was still coagulating. They were fresh kills,” Van Sickle said.
Van Sickle said coyotes have killed several of his sheep this spring.
Neither man believes the animal that attacked the lambs was a coyote. Van Sickle said he believes it was a wolf or a wolf hybrid.
“The size of him was twice as big as a coyote,” DeVries said.
According to the ODFW depredation report, tears in the lambs’ muscle were “fairly small, measuring 1 ½ inch in length and ¼ inch deep.”
“The depth of hemorrhage was not consistent with wolves,” Collom said. “There was also a lack of major shredding of tissue or tissue damage that you see with wolves.”
Collom said throughout the years reports have been made of hybrid wolves in the Sprague River area.
“Those hybrids don’t act like wild wolves … the hybrid wolves don’t generally exist very long in the wild,” Collom said.
Reports of sightings
Collom said his office has received reports of suspected wolf sightings and track observations in Sprague River, but officials have not been able to confirm the reports as wolf activity.
Collom noted that no radio-collared wolves are in the vicinity.
“It’s not to say that there isn’t (a wolf) there, but it’s an extremely busy, people-dense area,” Collom said. “Wild wolves don’t generally like to hang out where there is lots of people activity.”
“I suspect we’re dealing with either some wild dogs or people’s dogs that are out running,” Collom said. “We have not confirmed any recent wolf activity in that area.”
Collom said ODFW is trying to be “up front and extremely transparent on everything wolf related.”
“We can only deal with what we know,” Collom said.
Deterrents
Collom said wolf attacks on humans are extremely rare; however, he noted, risk factors always exist in areas inhabited by predators, such as wolves, bear or cougar.
“If you have young children, make sure they are supervised (outdoors), especially around dusk and dawn,” Collom said.
Collom said bringing animals in at night and disposing of dead livestock properly are key wolf deterrents.
“It doesn’t have to be a fresh carcass. Wolves will visit bone piles that are several years old. It’s a good idea to bury those, the deeper the better. I would recommend 5 to 6 feet,” Collom said.
Collom advises the public file a report with the ODFW if a wolf is sighted or wolf activity is suspected.