Wolves Under the Gun Again in Oregon

Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife has approved a kill permit for a livestock owner in Umatilla County.  The target is the Horseshoe Pack, which consists of three adults and five yearlings.  Obviously the adults are finding it difficult to feed their growing family and have attacked cattle grazing on an allotment.  One of the wolves wears a GPS collar, is it should be relatively easy for the cattlemen to find and kill two of the pack.  The agency does not know if any pups are members of the pack. The owner has until October 7th to eliminate the offending wolves.  Up to four wolves may be killed according to the agency's authorization in order to stop alleged predation by the Horseshoe pack [photo credit: Oregon Wild]

Under the state's wolf management plan, a kill permit can be issued when "chronic depredation" occurs.  This means two confirmed incidents within nine months, a rather strict standard that wildlife advocates opposed.  The qualifying incidents occurred on August 16th and September 2nd. No attraction, such as carcasses or bone piles, can be present on the property involved.  Interestingly only wolves of the possible predators of cattle--bear, cougar, or coyote--are treated this way by the state agency.  

According to the agency, the subsidized livestock owner--or "producer" in the agency's lexicon--made repeated attempts to haze the pack away from livestock, including camping in the area for more than forty nights. How the agency made this determination is not revealed.   Guard dogs have not been utilized. The agency considers the non-lethal efforts made to deter the canines sufficient to warrant a kill permit, also a requirement of the plan. Another Oregon pack may be eliminated before this is over.