Ranchers Blame Wolves even after they claim steer dead for days

Kind of normal, Ranchers find a calf days after its dead, immediately wolves are to blame. That is pretty sad considering Cattle are the ones invading the Wolves home.

A Fort Klamath rancher who has had four steers killed by wolves this month is frustrated by the lack of protections for cattle and ranchers.

“This valley, with so many cattle, is going to be like a smorgasbord for the wolves. They’ll take the animals that put up the least resistance,” said Bill Nicholson, third-generation owner of Nicholson Ranch, where the deaths, verified by state fish and game biologists as wolf kills, took place.

The most recent confirmation was received Thursday for a steer believed to have been killed either last Sunday or Monday night. Its partially eaten carcass was found Wednesday after Butch Wampler, who oversees the ranch’s cattle, spotted large numbers of circling crows and rode to the scene.

In addition, a steer that had been attacked by a wolf several days earlier died of its injuries either late Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

“You feel helpless when you don’t have a means of protecting your animals,” Nicholson said, referring to the protected status of wolves.

Wolves in the western two-thirds of Oregon remain on the federal endangered species list, while those east of Highways 395, 78 and 95 are delisted and managed under Oregon’s wolf plan. Federally protected wolves cannot be killed, even if they are seen attacking cattle. Only nonlethal controls, such as strobe lights and flagging electric fences, are allowed. In the eastern third of Oregon, four confirmed livestock predations over a six-month period by the same wolf pack can lead to killing the offending wolves.

Nicholson’s ranch is in the Wood River Valley, south of Crater Lake National Park and north of Klamath Falls. Although most of the herd has been or will be shipped out of the valley in coming weeks, Nicholson is concerned about what might happen when they return to grazing lands next spring “when you’ve got a meal ticket like this.”

During spring and summer, upwards of 35,000 head of cattle graze on the valley’s nutrient-rich grasslands. In fall, most of the animals are trucked out to winter grazing areas, predominately in far Northern California. The Nicholson Ranch pastures about 1,300 cattle from DeTar, a ranch in Dixon, California, each summer. Nicholson said there are still about 300 to 400 steers on his ranch and estimates about 5,000 cows, calves and yearlings are still in the valley.

“All the heavier cattle that have been here the full season have moved on to feedlots throughout the West,” he said. “Cows and calves and lighter feeder cattle have moved in for the fall feed and will remain until the snow comes or rains in the ‘bald hills’ of California start their grass, whichever comes first.”

While media focus has been on the wolf killings, Nicholson said a potentially more serious problem stems from stress caused by the attacks.

“You’re losing a lot of pounds with the stress,” he said.

Studies estimate the average steer will gain about three to four pounds a day feeding on irrigated pasture known for its nutritious blend of sedges, rushes, grasses, forbs and clover.

Because of the presence of wolves, cattle have been bunched up in groups, often standing, rather than bedding down over relatively wide areas, Nicholson and Wampler said.

“The stress on the herd is another factor, and probably more costly,” Nicholson said, noting studies indicate stress reduces weight gains and could reduce values for leased lands. Recommended methods of reducing or eliminating wolf attacks, including the special fencing, strobe lights and more frequent patrols, also increase costs for material, time and labor, although state and federal agencies pay most of those costs.

Wampler, who has seen wolves feeding on cow carcasses, discovered the three dead and one badly injured steers. On Oct. 5, concerned about possible attacks, he was in his pickup truck using his headlight and spotlight when heard a bawling calf. Although unable to find the calf, he found a large group of cattle.

“They were all standing in a big circle,” Wampler said. “They should have been bedded down.”

He found the calf, which weighed 458 pounds, the next morning. “You could see the tooth marks,” he said. Biologists shaved its hair, which exposed deep wounds in its legs.

Wampler said he located the first kill Oct. 2 when he found a dead 800-pound steer. “I saw this wolf take off toward the fence,” he said. Then he spotted a second wolf. The next day he saw three wolves feeding on the carcass.

Two days later, he found a second dead steer, one weighing 600 pounds.

“His stomach was ripped open … his heart, lungs and liver, they were all gone,” Wampler said. He and Nicholson called the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Klamath District office, which immediately sent out biologists who confirmed both were wolf kills. It was later learned a trail camera photographed five wolves near the area where the attacks happened.

“I give the Fish and Wildlife people credit. They were right here,” Nicholson said, noting biologists from the state and federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have spent nights in fields in efforts to distract wolves.

“It’s a super-high priority for us,” said Tom Collom, a wildlife biologist for the ODFW’s Klamath office. “The sooner we can get to them (killed or injured cattle), the better chance we have to make a determination. We treat it like a crime scene.”

Wolves have been seen in the Wood River Valley since the 2011 appearance of OR-7, a collared male from northeastern Oregon. He was known to have returned to Southern Oregon in 2014, mated with a female wolf and has since had several offspring in what is known as the Rogue Pack.

John Stephenson, USFWS wolf coordinator, said he believes the Wood River Valley attacks were by the Rogue Pack, but a verification cannot be made because no wolves in the pack have radio monitoring collars (OR-7’s monitor died).

“There is a chance it’s not (the Rogue Pack), but we believe it was,” Stephenson said.

“I personally don’t think those are the first wolf kills in the valley,” Nicholson said, noting a neighboring rancher said the recent killings follow patterns seen in a steer death that was not reported to state game officials last year.

“What we’ve learned is what to look for,” Wampler said of examining dead cattle. “Now we’re looking at the animals to see if there are any wounds. … You can see them if you know what you’re looking for.”

Wampler expects more attacks on livestock.

“They will come back, that’s just a given.”

Source: ‘Death by 1,000 bites’