Wolf suspected in sheep deaths
By Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
A recent rash of sheep killings in northern Utah has the Division of
Wildlife Services thinking wolf, but director Mike Bodenchuk stops just
short of labeling the culprit, citing a lack of physical or visual
evidence.
“I cannot confirm the presence of a wolf there. The killings suggest a
wolf and I am comfortable saying it is a large canine,” Bodenchuk said. “I
can say it wasn’t a coyote or a bear or a lion.”
Eleven sheep have been killed in about a 6-mile radius near the town
of
Woodruff. The most recent was a single killing Aug. 22. Woodruff is not
far from where two wolves were shot in Wyoming in March for killing
livestock.
With no tracks, hair or witnesses, Bodenchuk is careful about placing
blame, but he says he is swayed by several factors.
“The fact it is close to where the others were shot and because the
animals were killed in a similar pattern consistent with wolf damage leads
me to believe it was a wolf,” he said.
Bodenchuk said wolves, being pack animals, attack the flanks of their
prey, while other canine predators such as coyotes go for the throat and
head areas. A nearly 40-pound calf was all but consumed, something more
typical of a wolf than a coyote. Adding to the confusion is that the other
dead sheep were covered with bites, but not really fed upon.
“That is pretty classic of a [domestic or hybrid] dog,” said Ed Bangs,
the wolf recovery leader in the northern Rockies for the Fish and Wildlife
Service. “We have had a number of wolf/dog hybrids released in the wild in
that area. What typically happens is they come around and then they vanish
because they starve to death, somebody runs them over or another predator
kills them. That could have been the situation in this case. If it was a
wolf and it moved on, it would be killing sheep somewhere else.”
DWS employees flew over the kill areas twice, including the day after
the latest attack, but failed to spot a wolf.
Contrary to Bangs’ belief that it was probably a dog doing the
killing,
Bodenchuk says the fact the animal cannot be found confirms it was
probably a wolf.
“The nature of the wolf is here today and gone tomorrow. It doesn’t
surprise me that we can’t find it,” he said.
Bodenchuk, who has the authority to kill a wolf if he believes it is
killing livestock, said the hunt for the sheep killer will continue.
Bangs pointed out that the wolf was downlisted on the Endangered
Species
List in April from endangered to threatened, and citizens now have the
right to kill a wolf if they see it attacking livestock, herding or
guarding animals and domestic dogs.
Regardless of whether the issue in Woodruff is resolved, DWS
biologists
say they expect to hear more on the wolf front in the coming months. Adam
Kozlowski, a sensitive-species biologist in the division’s northern
region, said during the summer he received about one wolf sighting report
a month.
“Things will pick up during the dispersal season, which is typically
between November and February,” Kozlowski said.
In addition to the problem wolves killed in Wyoming east of Bear Lake
in
March, there were several reports of sightings in Logan Canyon from
Highway 89 near the Beaver Mountain Ski Area last winter. None, though,
was confirmed.
bpretty@sltrib.com
The appearance of a wolf in a coyote trap near Morgan in November
proved
that wolves have discovered Utah.
“Wolves & People, Seeking Common Ground” is a six-part lecture series
beginning Wednesday at Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City.
The free lectures are sponsored by the Wallace Stegner Center, the
Utah
Museum of Natural History and Red Butte Garden.
The first lecture comes from filmmakers Jim and Jamie Dutcher, who
spent
six years filming a wolf pack in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains.
The Sept. 24 lecture will be held at the Marriott Library Gould
Auditorium on the University of Utah campus and will deal with the legal
issues involved with the dispersal of wolves into Utah.
Ed Bangs, gray wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife
Service, will talk about the restoration of wolves in Montana, Idaho and
Wyoming on Oct. 1 at the Marriott Library.
Biologist Paul Paquet will discuss the role of the wolf in ecosystems
at
the Oct. 8 lecture, which will also be held at the Marriott Library.
A third-generation livestock operator from Idaho will discuss issues
the
reintroduction of wolves have brought to the ranching community at the
Oct. 15 lecture at the Marriott Library.
The series finale will include a panel discussion addressing the
issues
of managing wolves in Utah from local speakers with multiple points of
view on the subject. It will be held Oct. 22 at Red Butte Garden.
— Brett Prettyman