Orofino man says wolves attacked his horses
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) – An Orofino man lost three horses after they were
attacked by wolves at a campsite along the Little North Fork of the
Clearwater River. Bror Borjesson had to put down one pregnant Appaloosa
because of a broken back, and another pregnant mare and a gelding fled the
attack, closely pursued by the wolves, he said.
Despite searching for a week, Borjesson has not seen the horses since.
The attack came earlier this month at about 1:30 a.m., he said, waking him
and his family from a hunting campsite near Get Away Point.
When he heard a commotion near the horse trailer, he grabbed a flashlight
and saw four wolves attacking the horses, two of them tethered and
fighting to get away.
One of the tethered horses, a pregnant registered appaloosa mare named
Sheena, flipped while trying to escape and broke her back. Bullet, a
3-year-old gelding, broke his harness and fled with unrestrained Syringa,
a pregnant registered appaloosa.
Curt Mack, director of wolf recovery in Idaho for the Nez Perce Tribe,
said the Marble Mountain Pack was likely responsible for the attack.
Although he has received reports of wolves chasing horses, this is the
first instance he can recall in which wolves have attacked horses.
Mack said his crew plans to conduct regular monitoring flights in the area
the first week of November and would be happy to coordinate search efforts
with Borjesson.
Employees of the federal Wildlife Services Agency, which helps control
predators, attempted to investigate the attack site, but were unable to
make contact with Borjesson, according to state director Mark Collinge at
Boise.
The Defenders of Wildlife pays ranchers for cattle and sheep they lose to
verified wolf attacks, but Collinge said he was unsure if the program
would cover a private hunter’s horses. Officials from the environmental
group could not contacted Tuesday.
Gray wolves were reintroduced into central Idaho and Yellowstone National
Park in 1995 and 1996. They have done remarkably well and are expected to
reach recovery goals this winter.