B-300, the alpha female of the Imnaha pack will be allowed to continue breeding. Photo from ODFW.
Following new wolf attacks on livestock this weekend, ODFW is giving federal agents a green light to kill two members of the Imnaha wolf pack in Wallowa County.
The alpha male and female will be spared. They’re the only known breeding pair of wolves in the state. Three of their offspring with radio collars won’t be killed either. ODFW is protecting the collared wolves because it’s easier to monitor them.
But, USDA Wildlife Services will be allowed to take out two of the five members that aren’t collared.
ODFW took this step after it confirmed two more wolf kills of livestock in the upper Wallowa Valley on Saturday. The La Grande Observer reports that a pair of dead calves were found near the ranch of Karl Patton, the man who encountered a pack of wolves in the middle of the night near his house in March. He his first calf to wolves on Thursday.
With these new attacks, there are now a total of five wolf kills in Oregon for this year, all of them in Wallowa County.
The authorization to remove the two wolves comes with some restrictions.
Wildlife Services can only remove wolves found within three miles of a cluster of ranches where some of the earlier attacks on livestock took place. The wolves have to be on private property. The permission to kill the wolves expires June 11.
One last thing, ODFW has also issued two more of the shoot-to-kill permits to Wallowa County ranchers.
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