Five livestock kills in just over two weeks have been attributed to wolves
A remote camera captured this photo of OR-7 on May 3 in eastern Jackson County.
Two more livestock kills this week in the gray wolf pack in the Fort Klamath area have brought the pack’s total dead to five since the beginning of July.
According to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife report issued Wednesday, the latest depredation occurred on July 23. That morning a cattle producer found a dead, 825-pound steer in a private pasture that had been partially eaten. The cattle were estimated to have died between 36 and 48 hours prior to the investigation.
According to ODFW, the animal’s injuries were “consistent with injuries to other livestock attacked by wolves,” and the kill was attributed to wolves from the rogue pack, which moves between Jackson and Klamath counties.
A day earlier, on July 22, a Fort Klamath ranch manager found an 850-pound steer dead in a private pasture. Most of the rear half of the animal had been consumed. It is estimated that the bovine died about 36 hours before it was found.
The previous week, the Rogue Pack was blamed for killing two other cattle in the Fort Klamath area: a yearling steer found on July 17th and an 800-pound steer found severely injured on July 15th. Due to the severity of the injuries, the injured bovine was euthanized. .
The first incident in this recent spate of cattle deaths occurred July 12, also in the Fort Klamath area, resulting in the death of an 11-month-old, 775-pound cow on private land.
Until this recent rash of deaths, the Rogue Pack was not known to have been involved in any livestock killings since January.
The current alpha female of the Rogue Pack is the 4-year-old daughter of OR-7 and another collared wolf OR-94.
OR-7, believed to have died in 2019, was the well-known wandering wolf that spawned the original Rogue Pack. OR-94 was found dead of apparent natural causes in 2021 in the Sky Lakes Wilderness near Prospect in northeastern Jackson County.
The pack remained under the radar of state wildlife officials until last summer, when trail cameras captured footage of the new Rogue Pack with up to four cubs.
Contact freelance writer Lee Juillerat at 337lee337@charter.net or 541-880-4139.
