Still missing. The alpha male of the Imnaha pack hasn't been seen or heard from since May 31st. ODFW photo.
The hunt for two wolves in Wallowa County could last all summer long. That’s the latest word from Oregon Fish and Wildlife.
ODFW is now giving federal agents until the end of August to kill two members of the Imnaha pack. It’s the third time ODFW has extended the hunt.
Also new, ODFW is answering critics in the environmental community who think the agency is violating its own rules, and letting the wolf hunt drag out for too long.
The alpha male of the Imnaha pack before receiving a collar. Photo from ODFW.
Two headlines from Oregon’s wolf country.
Federal agents are getting another week to hunt down two wolves in Wallowa County. This is the second time ODFW has extended the hunt.
Meanwhile, the alpha male of the Imnaha wolf pack is missing. He should be wearing a tracking collar. But wildlife officials haven’t seen or heard from him in nearly three weeks.
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 believes this is the alpha male of the Imnaha pack. Photo from ODFW.
Ranchers are nervous, environmentalists are delighted, a day after Oregon Fish and Wildlife released its first video of wolf pack in Eastern Oregon. ODFW says there are at least ten members in the pack, a number that seemed to surprise just about everyone except for wildlife experts.
“Watching the video yesterday was exhilarating,” writes Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild. In a statement released today, Klavins adds, ” I’ve seen a lot of bad news related to wolves fly across my computer screen in the past few months. Poaching in Idaho. Wolves chased down on ATVs in Montana. Research wolves gunned down outside Yellowstone.”
“I think most Americans, and Oregonians, have been pretty appalled at the wolf carnage of the past few months. So, to see a good sized pack of what appear to be healthy wolves making their way across the eastern Oregon landscape without the threat of a shotgun blast – well, that’s pretty exciting.”
But a story in the Wallowa County Chieftain shows that ranchers in Eastern Oregon have a much different reaction. Rod Childers of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association tells the paper he’s been hearing an increasing number of wolf sightings lately. He says most ranchers have already moved their cattle into winter feeding territory, away from wolves, and that attacks on livestock will probably pick up in the spring.
Childers also tells the paper his organization will push again next year for the right to shoot wolves that are attacking or stalking livestock. Under the state’s Wolf Management Plan, only wildlife officials are allowed to kill wolves. That changes as wolf numbers rise and wolves are delisted.
But Klavins says it’s too early to remove protections for wolves. “Even with the new confirmation of the size of this pack, we still have only 15 or so wolves in the entire state. Now is not the time to take decision-making power away from our professional wildlife managers and allow anyone with a gun and pasture to shoot wolves.”
B-300, the alpha female of the Imnaha wolf pack. Taken in July of 2009 when ODFW replaced her radio collar. Photo from ODFW.
If you were looking for solid proof that gray wolves are making a comeback in Oregon, this may be it.
Oregon Fish and Wildlife released video this afternoon showing a pack of ten wolves in the Imnaha Wildlife Management Unit in Wallowa County. ODFW has been monitoring the pack since June of 2008, but the new video is proof that the pack is much bigger than they realized.
“ODFW has been regularly monitoring this pack but until this video was taken, we only had evidence of a minimum of three adults and three pups making up the pack, says Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator. “Pups can be difficult to distinguish at this distance, but it appears there may be as many as six pups in the video.
ODFW is monitoring this pack and another one in the Wenaha Unit of Wallowa County. If at least two pups survive until the end of the year, then the pack is considered a “breeding pair” under Oregon law. ODFW’s Wolf Management plan calls for establishing at least four breeding pairs for three consecutive years in Eastern Oregon before they can be removed from the state’s Endangered Species List.
In addition to the two packs, Michelle Dennehy says they are monitoring an undetermined number of isolated wolves.
Gray wolves in Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, and throughout most of the Rockies were delisted by the Obama Administration earlier this year. But should you happen to find any in Western Oregon, they remain protected under federal and state law.
