http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/News/Local-News/Wolf-kill-permits-issued-to-ranchers 
Written by Katharine Nesbitt, For The Observer May 24, 2010 02:14 pm
ENTERPRISE — Five Wallowa County ranchers have been issued permits to kill a wolf seen in the act of attacking livestock.
Conditions allowing permit holders to kill a wolf include seeing a wolf in the act of biting, wounding or killing livestock on private property or a leased grazing allotment.
Wallowa County rancher Todd Nash has been issued a permit based on the confirmed wolf kill of one of his calves Thursday. Nash grazes cattle in the Divide Country, south and east of the Imnaha Highway.
Thursday morning Nash was putting out salt when he noticed one of his cows appeared to be looking for her calf.
“When I first went out there it looked like two coyotes running off,” Nash said. “In hindsight it could have been two of the younger wolves that look like coyotes.”
After a quick look, Nash couldn’t find the calf. He headed to Enterprise for a meeting with other stock growers, Wallowa County commissioners, Sheriff Fred Steen and state Rep. Greg Smith. The meeting focused on recent depredation of cattle in Wallowa County and the disagreements between federal and state officials on determining positive wolf kills.
Nash said when he returned to his cows mid-day between Threebuck Creek and Little Sheep Creek, “I saw two golden eagles light up from the calf, tipping me off.”
Nash found the depredated calf in the vicinity where he had seen the wolves earlier. “Most likely I busted them off of the kill,” Nash said.
All that was left of the 3-week, 150-pound calf was a small shred of meat.
Nash’s herd grazes among elk, a mainstay of the wolf diet. “There were elk 30 yards away from the calf,” Nash said.
“I called Sheriff Steen and he set it up from there,” Nash said.
As of last week, by the request of local stock growers, the sheriff’s office is the first to be notified of an apparent livestock depredation.
When Steen received the call around 1 p.m., he called Vic Coggins Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife office in Enterprise, and Marlyn Riggs of Wildlife Services.
“The emotions you go through when you are waiting for the authorities run high,” Nash said.
Nash said the Wildlife Services agent’s investigation determined it to be a wolf kill.
“Marlyn was real transparent,” Nash said. “There were tracks, scat and definite trauma to the calf.”
The calf was transported in a plastic bag to a meat cooler where it was secured until a thorough examination was conducted by ODFW, Nash said. Coggins took his evidence, mainly pictures and documentation, back to his office.
Friday two representatives from the ODFW northeast regional office, including Bruce Eddy, Sheriff Steen and Coggins, examined the carcass for nearly two hours. At 4:30 p.m. a press release was sent out from the ODFW public affairs office in Salem confirming that the calf had been killed by a wolf.
“ODFW and USDA Wildlife Services investigated and confirmed that the kill was wolf-caused. Based on the condition of the carcass, the calf was probably killed early on the morning of May 20,” the release said.
“The private rangeland where the calf was killed is 22 miles south of the spot where ODFW confirmed a wolf killed a calf on Bob Lathrop’s Zumwalt Prairie range, May 5,” the release said. “It is east of valley farmland where ODFW has been hazing wolves and monitoring wolf activity since early spring.”
“The Imnaha wolf pack is known to reside in this area and members of this pack could be involved. Four of the pack’s wolves are currently collared, including the alpha male and alpha female, but radio and GPS records do not indicate that any of the collared wolves were involved in this livestock kill,” the release said.
Nash said he knew his cattle were susceptible after there were reports of an established pack in the Imnaha area last summer. A collared wolf from Idaho has been known to be in the area for three years, Childers said.
Maps tracking the collared wolves’ movement with telemetry have shown that they frequently travel through Nash’s grazing land. Biologists have also seen wolves in the area during flights conducted by ODFW.
Last fall Nash was missing 20 calves when he brought them in from their summer grazing allotment on Marr Flat, just a few miles by air from his depredated calf.
“Since the Imnaha pack has been established, I’ve only received one call from ODFW Wolf Coordinator Russ Morgan,” Nash said. “It’s their job to communicate with the stock growers.”
Nash said in late February he saw a map of the collared wolves’ activity.
“I told ODFW, when you get these maps I’d love to sit down and look at them with you.” Since then he has only seen one updated map made available after the Lathrops’ calf was killed.
“I never wanted to hunt wolves or shoot wolves, I just want to protect my property,” Nash said.
Nash’s calf is the fourth suspected wolf depredation since May 5, yet Lathrop and Nash’s calves are the only positively confirmed wolf kills.
Nash said if anyone notices raven or eagles on ranch land it could be an indication of cattle depredation. Nash said if a passerby notices cattle depredation, they should notify the owner, if known, or call the non-emergency number for the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Department at 541-426-3131.
A depredated calf found May 13 on the Schaafsma ranch southeast of Joseph and one on the Makins ranch found May 16 in the Zumwalt Prairie were not confirmed by ODFW to be wolf kills. The Makin calf was sent to Washington State University last week for a necropsy. Results should be known later today, Rod Childers, Oregon Cattleman’s Association wolf chairman, said.
In recent weeks not only have emotions run strongly among Wallowa County stock growers, but there has been some disagreement between the federal Wildlife Services, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and ODFW.
The 2005 Oregon Wolf Plan states, “Wildlife Services will be the lead agency to respond to reports of wolf depredation.” It also says, “Public and private land managers will be informed of wolf activities on the respective lands as needs.”
A follow-up publication, “Federal/State Coordination Strategy for implementation of Oregon’s Wolf Plan,” was published in 2007. Under livestock depredation investigation and response management actions the publication says, “Wildlife Services is the lead agency for investigating livestock depredations and making the official determination on cause of death.”
In the case of the Schaafsmas’ and Makins’ calves, the ODFW wolf coordinator disagreed with Wildlife Services determination of positive wolf kills.
Saturday, the Oregon Cattlemen hosted a wolf symposium at Eastern Oregon University. Craig Ely, Northeast Region manager for ODFW, acknowledged the recent difficulty.
“We have had a disagreement between the two agencies,” he said.
When Sharon Beck, member of the cattlemen’s wolf task force, asked Ely to elaborate, he said, “We have a process to deal with depredation. The standards differ between Wildlife Services and ODFW to determine cause of death.”
Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofit that handles reimbursement for the loss of livestock, has been notified of both the Lathrop and Nash depredation. Despite the fact that the Lathrop calf was killed May 5, no communication has been received by Lathrop from Defenders.
The Oregon Wolf Plan is up for review and ODFW will be accepting comments until July 15, Childers said.
