ODFW to Slaughter 4 More Harl Butte Wolves

In Ban Grazing Allotments, Oppose Welfare Ranching, Protect Oregon Wolves, Protect The Wolves by Twowolves6 Comments

ODFW following Martorello and refusing to recognize science… ODFW will now authorize additional incremental lethal take of up to four wolves from the pack, which may be killed either by ODFW staff or by  livestock producers affiliated with a local grazing association who will be provided with a limited duration lethal take permit.

Oct. 6, 2017

Update on the lethal take authorizations for Harl Butte, Meacham packs

Harl Butte Pack: Additional lethal take authorized

ODFW confirmed an additional two depredations by the Harl Butte Wolf Pack in the past few days, during investigations on a dead calf on private land on Sept. 29 and an injured calf on private land on Oct. 1.

ODFW will now authorize additional incremental lethal take of up to four wolves from the pack, which may be killed either by ODFW staff or by  livestock producers affiliated with a local grazing association who will be provided with a limited duration lethal take permit. The permit is valid until 10/31/2017 and allows them to kill wolves in pastures on public or private land currently occupied by their livestock.

The Harl Butte pack is currently estimated at nine wolves (six adults and three wolves born this past spring). The younger wolves are likely to weigh between 50-60 pounds by this time of year while adult wolves generally weigh 70-115 pounds. Any wolf in the pack may be taken under the lethal control authorization.

ODFW has removed four adult wolves from the Harl Butte pack since Aug. 3, when it first authorized lethal control after non-lethal measures failed to prevent wolf-livestock depredation. The fourth wolf was killed Aug. 25. “With continued non-lethal measures by the livestock producers throughout the grazing season, we were hoping to see depredations stop after removing four wolves. And six weeks had passed with no depredations since mid-August. Unfortunately, it didn’t last,” said Roblyn Brown, ODFW acting wolf coordinator. “Grazing season is not over and these cattle will be on public land until Oct. 31 and private land even later depending on the weather.”

“As wildlife managers, we are responsible for balancing the conservation of wolves on the landscape with our obligation to manage wolves so that damage to livestock is limited. We need to take further action with this pack,” said Brown.

Livestock producers in the area have continued to use non-lethal preventive measures to limit problems with wolves. These measures include: increased human presence during daytime hours and spending nights outside to protect cattle from wolves; grouped cattle into one pasture instead of several; removed horses from a pasture after ODFW observed a wolf interacting with the horses; and a county and a volunteer range rider have patrolled the area and hazed wolves away from cattle. More info

Meacham Pack: Lethal control expires

The lethal control authorization for a livestock producer with chronic depredation by the Meacham wolf pack on private land ended on Sept. 30. The permit was not renewed because no further depredations have occurred and livestock are mostly removed from the area. While the lethal order authorized the removal of up to two wolves, only one wolf, a female, was killed on Sept. 7 where the previous depredations had occurred.

ODFW initially said this female wolf was a non-breeding female. Upon further detailed examination of the wolf’s remains, ODFW determined that the female wolf had bred this year. More info

Source: ODFW Gray Wolves

Comments

  1. Hello, Twowolves,
    I would like to encourage you to open a table at the Fifth Annual 2018 Speak For Wolves meeting next July in The Union Pacific Dining Lodge in West Yellowstone, Montana. Your publication and coverage of the issue is impressive, and I would certainly like to help in any way I can.
    I remember the Ho-Chunk Nation (Winnebago) of Wisconsin have tabled there, and some Wolf Sanctuaries in Colorado, California, and as far as Florida, have sponsored the event.
    Brett Haverstick bhaverstick@yahoo.coom has coordinated SFW, and has worked with a number of major Wolf Advocacy groups , who have also tabled there, from Canada and the USA. Please contact him.
    Speak For Wolves is at http://www.speakforwolves.org/about/
    Their postal address:
    Speak for Wolves
    PO Box 8542
    Moscow Idaho 83843
    Buffalo Field Campaign, begun by Rosalie Little Thunder, Lakota, and Mike Mease, have continued their permanent presence at Speak For Wolves. Many good contacts can be made there – James Holt and Brooklyn Baptiste are two prominent Nez Perce members of Board and Advisory Board, as are Philip Little Thunder, Rosebud Sioux and Catcher Cuts The Rope, Nakoda and White Earth of Fort Belknap, two more allies.

    Each Wolf and all their allies are on my mind each day and night. You have done great work here on this website, and are known and thanked.

  2. That’s a very young female she looks like) in the 2012 video. She was probably a yearling at that time, and so is six now, if she has survived.
    Wolves keep filling out until age 5, their cognitive maturity. Males have bigger bodies, playing their adult part with strength. Females tend to remain most agile through life, retaining subadult speed for the chase.
    Very few if any, have traveled from NE Oregon since a couple years ago. This is a problem, as it is from there that all western, Cascade, northern California wolves ave come from there.
    Interstate 5, remains and extremely heavily trafficked barrier. Some overcrossings in the style of Banff National Park and even wolf-hatin’ Wyoming’s two 150 foot wide pronghorn overpasses in 191 west of Pinedale would help.

    I’ve taken close looks at the dispersal corridor. From the Strawberries through the too-heavily-roaded Ochocos and over to 395 below and above Bend, has much excessive human development, and unwatched, unregulated guns. Wolves can and do travel in sage country, but always search for good prey habitat.

  3. Here’s an article on Wildlife Crossings – I didn’t know there were 38 of them in Washington (the Snoqualmie Pass Rd goes to Seattle and I don’t do megalopolis or Interstates, soI’ve never crossed there). Montana built a couple, but I haven’t been there since building.

    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/saving-lives-and-reducing-roadkill-wildlife-crossings-are-getting-a-new-look-2017-06-29
    Black bears like undercrossings and amphibians NEED them. Griz & ungulates like overcrossings, and wolves probably will explore the tunneling ones as well.

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