Wolves in Imnaha pack kill rancher's cow in Wallowa County (OR)

The Oregonian ^ | December 13, 2011 | Lynne Terry

[jazusamo]

Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

The alpha wolf in the Imnaha pack was collared

in May and is being tracked by state biologists.

A pack of wolves roaming grasslands in Eastern Oregon killed another cow over the weekend.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said a yearling heifer was found dead on a ranch east of Joseph in Wallowa County. ODFW officials said the rancher had coraled his 700 cattle Sunday night in a pasture near his home and that the wolves broke in and chased them out, killing a heifer. The wolves returned the next night to the same ranch but no cows were killed.

Russ Morgan, ODFE’s wolf coordinator, said the Imnaha pack has killed 19 cows since spring 2010. Usually wolves go after calves, which are the easiest prey, but the past three cows killed were adults or adult-sized, Morgan said.

“It’s worrying for livestock producers,” he said. “It’s an alarming trend.”

The agency would like to kill two wolves in the pack of at least five animals but a court-ordered stay halted that plan Oct. 5 . Wildlife advocates, who took the agency to court, want the state to focus more preserving gray wolves which are protected in Oregon as an endangered species.

Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild said that the number of livestock killed by gray wolves is miniscule compared with the numbers that die being born, in severe weather or from disease. Ranchers also lose cows to thieves.

“Wolves are not a threat to the livestock industry,” Klavins said, emphasizing the need for the state to balance the needs of ranchers with conservation.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture is creating a wolf compensation program which should be in effect by early 2012. The program will pay ranchers, including the latest one, whose cattle are killed by the wolves.

[dainbramaged]

I can think of .308 solutions to this problem. Nothing there a 180 grain Nosler partition couldn't handle.

[One Name]

Pterodactyls would make me leery of letting kids out to play. A fellow would need quite a fowling piece...

[One Name]

Their goal is exactly to put rifles on the endangered list. Then, conservatives.

[FlingWingFlyer]

It’s those wascally T-Rex guys that would scare me. Imagine one of those boys passing through the neighborhood.

[crz]

One cow? Thats it?

In a little berg up here by the name Perronville, A cattle farmer has had 32 head killed by wolves.

In Iron County, a farmer there has got some kind of dogs, that kill wolves, and I understand they do a very good job of it. He lets them patrol the fence lines and they actually will attack and kill the whole pack if they come across.

[george76]

UN Agenda 21 is working - as planned

[Jack Hydrazine]

Let’s have the courts force the eco-nuts to be held financially liable for the actions of the wolves and then see what happens after that. What happens if the wolves start killing human beings? I guess we can take the eco-nuts and put them on death row.

[jazusamo]

That’s the 19th head this pack has killed since the Spring of 2010.

[One Name]

Those damn Triceratops and Anklyosauri keep tearing my fences up. Armor piercing rounds don’t faze them.

[jazusamo]

I’m afraid you’re right.

[Jack Hydrazine]

That’s way out there in the northeastern part of the State near the border with Idaho. It looks really, really remote and rugged territory!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Very funny story! (regardless of true or not)

[Jack Hydrazine]

"In Iron County, a farmer there has got some kind of dogs, that kill wolves, and I understand they do a very good job of it. He lets them patrol the fence lines and they actually will attack and kill the whole pack if they come across."

Those dogs are called Irish Wolfhounds. They are very good with children and families, but if a wolf or coyote or other predator gets within sight of them they're as good as dead. I can see this breed getting popular with the folks who live in the areas where wolves are running wild in America again.


Videos:
Video about the breed.
Second video.

[volunbeer]

I don’t have any links but folks up here in the inland Northwest (near the Canadian border) are talking about wolves stalking the Australian Shepherd flock guardians.

That breed might kill a wolf one on one but they operate alone. The wolves operate as a pack and some of them are the same size as the livestock dogs. Livestock dogs don’t stand a chance against a wolf pack despite boasts from breeders. They will annihilate a pack of coyotes but putting them out alone with a wolf pack is wasting a good dog.

I fear the wolves will continue to get bigger where they feed on livestock under government protection. They won’t expend nearly the calories tracking wild game if they kill domesticated livestock.

I may have to deal with these soon as we are considering running livestock on our acreage. I might have to stock up on anti-freeze and blood from the next deer..... never know when it might be useful. ;)

[goat granny]

cowboy wisdom is far superior to a college degree. The west was won by cowboys not college teachers....This country was made great on such wisdom, that is why the intellectuals have to denigrate the cowboy attitude.

[goat granny]

They tract the wolves as well as the guns in Fast and Furious...have no intention of doing anything about it...

[firebrand]

Brilliant observation. (seriously!)

[crz]

Dont do that. They will test the friggan things and accuse the nearest person.

I cant tell you what we do up here but the pack generally takes care of them after.

As for the dogs..Its some kind of dog that they use to hunt lions or something. I never got over to see them, but the guys that have, have said that the dogs are HUGE. I suppose he has three or four..I dunno.

[crz]

Maybe that is the breed. Like I told the other person..I never got over to see the dogs, but they said that they are huge. I also thought that someone had said that the breed he has will hunt lions. I do not know the particulars.

I do know this. We moved onto a job up that way the end of feb a couple years back. The deer moved in to feed off the buds on the tops and there were 19 at our best count. When we left two weeks later, there was not one deer left. The wolves got the whole herd.

[Hot Tabasco]

In Iron County, a farmer there has got some kind of dogs, that kill wolves,

Got a farmer friend in N.W. Kansas who hunts coyotes with greyhounds and several hybrids. One such hybrid he had was part wolfhound, part wolf and part greyhound.........Big body and thick hair of the wolfhound, eyes of the wolf and the running muscles of the greyhound. This dog was a monstrous beauty to behold.......