Imnaha pack keep killing more cattle –first calf in 2012 adds to 21 confirmed by ODFW

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January 9, 2012 | Filed underFeatured Stories,News,WC Wolf Watch | Posted by WallowaValleyOnline



First confirmed wolf livestock kill for 2012, totaling 21 confirmed by ODFW since May 2009
While Environmental groups Oregon Wild, Center of Biological Diversity and others celebrate their success suing ODFW to allow the Imnaha pack to continue to kill livestock without repercussion, Wallowa County ranchers continue to struggle with more livestock predations by the same pack on private land.
On January 7, another heifer calf was killed on private property by the Imnaha pack. She was found only six miles from Joseph and less than two miles from Ferguson Ridge Ski area, a popular winter hangout for snow enthusiasts of all ages.
Local rancher Scott Shear said he received GPS information from ODFW that the alpha male was heading toward his private property early Saturday morning. According to Shear, Roblyn Brown, ODFW Assistant Wolf Biologist called at 5:10 am, to advise him that the alpha male was on his property 10 yards east from the fence where his heifers are pastured. They rushed out to check the herd and found the heifer calf already dead. Kelly Sheer said her body was still steaming when they found her. At 11 p.m. Saturday, the wolves were detected in a pasture where Triple Creek Ranch bulls were located.
The calf was found dead right next to her hay feeder. The rest of the herd kept away from the carcass huddled up in fear on the far end of the pasture. Evidence that she struggled until the bitter end was present throughout the pasture visible by small pools of blood accompanied by wolf tracks leading all the way to her final place of death.

Neighbor and local rancher Tom Schaafsma said at the scene, that if he would have had a chance to name her he would have called her Blossom. “She was one of Scott’s really nice looking heifer calves that enjoyed playing and eating with her buddies every day”, he said.
ODFW tallies 21 cows and calves confirmed killed by wolves, US Wildlife Services reports 30 confirmed cases.
According to ODFW, livestock producers who hold legal kill permits issued by ODFW are still able to use lethal methods when catching wolves “in the act.” The agency told WVO in an email, that the law suit does prohibit the agency from killing “chronic” livestock predators. Nevertheless, it does not prohibit those ranchers from defending their livestock with lethal means while under attack by wolves, as long as they hold a legal kill permit issued by the agency.
Catching a wolf in the act is extremely difficult since they are very elusive and usually strike at night. To guard herds 24 hours a day, seven days a week is impossible according to the ranchers. Many Wallowa County’s family owned ranching businesses already struggle in a tough economy. Hiring additional staff to stay with cattle who find winter pasture on hundreds and even thousands of privately owned acres is just not feasible. “It’s like demanding to hire security guards at every Safeway in the Willamette Valley to stand outside 24/7 just in case a cougar shows up in a parking lot,” a Wallowa County resident said. “It’s just impossible.”
The wolves responsible for the latest attacks on livestock had already been identified by ODFW as chronic livestock depredation offenders with the latest on October 8, and Oct 25. , over Thanksgiving Weekend Nov. 26 and Dec. 12 when a total of five more cows were found killed by wolves.
Wallowa County Commissioner Susan Roberts and Oregon State Representative Greg Smith rushed to the scene to support Shear and to ask ranchers and agency officials questions on this latest and other recent cattle kills by the Imnaha pack.
Rod Childers, Oregon Cattlemen Assocation (OCA) Wolf Committee Chair, told Smith that there is no money available for compensation at this time.
The $5,000 security bond paid by conservation groups for confirmed livestock predation cases will not be available for a while.
Childers said, while the recent compensation legislation is still under review, the money is unavailable. If legislation passes review, Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) instead of Environmental groups will compensate for the losses, if Governor Kitzhaber releases the money. Kitzhaber recently froze ODFW budget items that includ the recently passed legislation for confirmed wolf predation on livestock.
If the plan does not pass, the bond money will be used to compensate ranchers for confirmed kills.
Livestock producers do everything possible to protect their herd from disease and other predator attacks year around. Ranchers have long said that the difference between losing livestock to disease, coyotes, cougars, and bears is the availability of legal lethal removal of [problem] predators who keep on killing livestock, and in aiding livestock with care and medication*. “We can vaccinate for many health issues including pneumonia”, local rancher Todd Nash said. “There is nothing we can do except applying all non-lethal measures that have been failing over and over again”, he said.
According to outside sources, there are more than 30 wolves in Oregon outside the Imnaha pack. The actual numbers cannot be verified, because most of the wolves are not collared. Other sources say more than one hundred.
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The Oregon Court of Appeals stopped the killing of the wolves on Oct. 5 after three wildlife advocacy groups filed for and were granted a stay on the kill order. Conservation groups sued to challenge the killing, arguing the Oregon Wolf Management Plan, which allows wolves to be killed to reduce livestock attacks, does not comply with the state Endangered Species Act. While federal Endangered Species Act protection has been lifted for wolves in Eastern Oregon, the state act still covers them. The court extended the stay order Nov. 15.
WVO latest information states that the court will not review the case until July, 2012.
Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity,Oregon Wild, and other wolf supporters claim that an animal protected under the ESA should never be able to be lethally removed, regardless of how much livestock they kill on private property.
Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and Oregon Wild, and other wolf supporters have also said before that it should be enough that ranchers get compensated for their loss, thus wolves should not be lethally removed just because they keep on killing livestock.