ODFW to kill two Imnaha pack wolves
Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife decided Thursday, May 5, to kill two young wolves from the Imnaha pack.
The decision comes after the latest confirmed case of depredation on livestock in the Divide area of Wallowa County about 10 miles east of Joseph.
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The Federal Register on May 5 officially removed the gray wolf from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Species in Eastern Oregon and transferred regulatory management of wolves in the eastern one-third of the state from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ODFW.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife had issued a decision Monday to lethally remove two wolves from the Imnaha pack after it was confirmed responsible for killing a calf on or around May 1, the second reported killing of livestock by wolves in the area within a week.
The ODFW said in a press release May 5 the state’s Wolf Conservation and Management Plan allows lethal control of wolves after confirming two depredations by wolves on livestock in the area.
“Our ultimate goal is wolf conservation, but we need to respond when chronic livestock losses occur,” said Craig Ely, ODFW Northeast Region manager.
The ODFW will target sub-adult wolves in the pack, not the breeding pair. It will conduct the operation on private land with livestock operations.
Wildlands advocate Rob Klavins, in an Oregon Wild press release May 5, said, “With only 23 confirmed wolves in the state, the decision to kill two is a serious blow to their recovery. It is disheartening that just hours after responsibility for wolf management was handed back to the state, the decision was made to kill two endangered wolves.”
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In a conference call May 5 between Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and various state and federal agencies, Salazar said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs to monitor states to ensure that gray wolf numbers do not decrease to a level that would justify a relisting as a federally endangered species, according to Bruce Eddy, Grande Ronde watershed manager at ODFW Regional Headquarters in La Grande.