BY: Joy Ufford
BONDURANT – Sublette County’s first wolf kill of livestock – a newly branded calf – was reported and confirmed May 25 at a Hoback Basin cattle ranch.
The rancher there also reported an attack by wolves on a calf earlier in April, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wolf program coordinator Mike Jimenez.
This brought the total number to 31 livestock killed this year by wolves, which are protected in Wyoming by FWS and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Jimenez said the confirmed attack and kill in Bondurant are the first in the county and this area for the calendar year.
“Most of the problems have been near Cody plus four sheep killed in the Big Horn Mountains,” he said in an email last Thursday. “One calf was recently killed near your area and 19 sheep were killed in April/May near Alta, Wyo.”
Eight calves or yearling cattle, 23 sheep and a dog are listed as confirmed wolf kills, with one calf and one dog injured, he added.