State confirms wolf depredation on Middle Fork of the John Day River

Published 9:00 am Monday, May 30, 2022

GRANT COUNTY — A rancher on the Middle Fork of the John Day River has become Grant County’s second producer to lose livestock to a confirmed wolf depredation.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported May 23 that wolves in an area known to be used by the Desolation Pack killed two calves in the evening hours of May 19.

Additionally, the ODFW report noted a GPS collar placed wolves at the kill site around the suspected time of death of the second calf.

The report noted the location of the bite marks and injuries to the calves was consistent with wolf attacks on live calves. The depredation, the report said, has been attributed to the Desolation Pack.

According to the report, on May 21, a livestock producer witnessed a wolf feeding on the carcass of a 1,000-pound cow. ODFW officials estimated the cow died the previous night and was found not to have been attacked while it was alive.

“The cause of death was not wolf-related and so our determination was ‘Other,’” the report concluded.

The first confirmed wolf depredation in Grant County occurred in May 2021 on Roy Vardanega’s Fox Valley Ranch. Vardanega reported five of his cattle were attacked and killed, although only one of the deaths was confirmed by ODFW as wolf-related.

According to the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management 2021 Annual Report, the Desolation Pack increased from five wolves to nine this year.

A pack is defined as more than four wolves traveling together in the winter. The Desolation Pack also met the criterion of having a breeding pair. A breeding pair is an adult male and adult female with at least two pups that survived to Dec. 31 in the year of their birth.