KEATING — Wolves killed a 500-pound, year-old calf near Keating late Monday, Jan. 24, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed after an investigation the following day.

A rancher found the dead calf on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 25, on a 25-acre private pasture near Tucker Creek, according to ODFW.

Tucker Creek flows into the Powder River near Keating School, at the intersection of Keating Cutoff Road, Keating Grange Road and Miles Bridge Road.

Brian Ratliff, district wildlife biologist at ODFW’s Baker City office, said on Friday morning, Jan. 28, that the rancher who owns the calf has done “everything right” to avoid attracting wolves to the property, and has also been instrumental in the past in encouraging other ranchers to bury carcasses and take other steps to thwart wolves.

Ratliff said that in the most recent confirmed wolf attack in the Keating Valley — a herding dog killed on a ranch on Friday, Jan. 14 — six unburied cow carcasses attracted wolves.

Although the area where the calf was killed is within the known range of the Keating Pack, none of the four wolves from the pack fitted with tracking collars had been in the area the night the calf was killed.

Ratliff said he has flown over the area in a helicopter three times this week, most recently on Thursday, Jan. 27, but didn’t see any wolves on those flights.

He said it’s possible that uncollared wolves from the Keating pack killed the calf.

It’s also possible that wolves that aren’t part of any pack have moved into the area and have not been identified.

“We don’t know at this point,” Ratliff said.

He said late January and early February is a common time for young adult wolves to disperse from packs.

The Keating pack consists of at least 10 wolves.

With calving season underway on some ranches and starting soon on others, Ratliff said he understands the anxiety resulting from the two recent wolf attacks in Keating Valley.

“Everybody’s really on high alert because calving season is just starting,” he said.

Ratliff said ranchers in the Keating area have set up a text message group that allows them to spread information — such as the attack on the calf this week — rapidly.

“It’s a good way to quckly tell a bunch of people, your neighbors,” Ratliff said.

Depredation report

The carcass of the calf found on Tuesday, Jan. 25, was mostly intact but the organs and most of the hide and muscle tissue from the calf’s hindquarters had been eaten, according to the ODFW report.

ODFW biologists who examined the carcass said the calf had died the preceding night.

They found a struggle scene in the snow about 20 yards in diameter, with fresh calf and wolf tracks, and blood.

Biologists shaved and skinned the carcass. They found multiple premortem tooth scrapes on the remaining hide on the left rear leg above the hock, as well as premortem tooth scraps on the calf’s throat and back.

The size and location of the tooth scrapes are consistent with wolf attacks on calves, the biologists concluded.