An ODFW wildlife biologist investigates carcass remains and the area around it.

Ranchers in Oregon’s wolf country face a dilemma when their livestock or guard dog turns up dead or badly injured — report it to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and wait a day or two for a response, or ignore it and eat the cost of the animal.

That’s not much of a choice, particularly because wolves have been in Oregon for 14 years now. That’s plenty of time for the state’s wildlife managers to come up with a better system for determining how an animal died.

Fewer ranchers are even bothering to report wolf attacks on their animals. The state’s own statistics show that. Yet, the state insists only its biologists can do the inspections.

The problem with that is the delay in getting a state biologist to the scene of a depredation. In just a day or two, scavengers can strip the carcass and destroy the evidence.

The state faces two challenges.

The first: ODFW is understaffed. The department has just hired three people who will be spread across the entire state. And once the reality of budget cuts brought on by the COVID-19 shutdowns take hold, the odds of adding more staff — or even keeping staff — will likely shrink.

The second: Most depredations take place in the backcountry. Getting there is often not quick or easy.

Especially in the eastern one-third of the state where the federal Endangered Species Act does not make ranchers put up with wolves that repeatedly kill livestock, the state needs to step up its activities. The department can come across as wolf apologists instead of managers.

Some sheriff’s offices and veterinarians say they are ready, willing and able to inspect livestock carcasses and determine a cause of death.

We think sheriff’s offices have better things to do than to investigate animal-on-animal crime scenes.

However, ODFW should enlist the help of veterinarians and ranchers themselves when they are unable to investigate a predation scene in a timely manner.

Most ranchers carry smartphones and are able to take photos and video. We suspect that most ranchers in areas where wolves are present have read a number of ODFW Livestock Depredation Investigation Reports, so they know what biologists are looking for.

These reports are online on the ODFW website, and make for an interesting reading.

They include the who-what-when-where details of an attack on an animal in a section called “General situation and animal information.” This includes details, such as a description of the land on which the animal was found, the age and size of the animal, the condition of the body, an estimate of the date of death, and evidence of scavenging by coyotes or other animals. Ranchers can provide much of this information, along with photos and videos of the scene.

The section called “Physical evidence and summary of findings” includes details like animal tracks in the area and blood trails. Usually, the carcass of the animal is skinned and examined for bite marks. The spacing between tooth marks indicates the size and the type of predator. A rancher or veterinarian with some training could use a camera and tape measure to take photos showing this information.

As the wolf population continues to increase in Oregon — at least 158 are in the state, mainly in the northeast corner — ODFW biologists will need to use all available resources and technology to investigate livestock deaths in a timely manner. They should be willing to enlist the help of ranchers and veterinarians if they are spread too thin.

For ranchers, a lot of money is at stake in the form of dead livestock. For the state’s biologists, their credibility is at stake.