Oregon County Declares State of Emergency Over State-Collared Wolf

Never mind a whole pack of wolves, one lone wolf has been able to upend an entire county in just a couple short weeks. First spotted in Lake County, Oregon on January 30th, Wolf OR158 has allegedly done the damage of ten wolves and local livestock producers are calling on the state to step in.

According to county officials, the lone wolf has traveled from Baker County to the north and to Modoc County, California to the south, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Within the first 10 days of one family finding the wolf on their property, there has been a reported eight calf kills that local ranchers are attributing to the lone wolf.

“We have over 3,000 head of cattle in the vicinity of where OR158 is hanging out that are in the calving process right now,” said Barry Shullanberger, Lake County Commissioner, Position 1. “[Cattle operations] are all kind of close together, and this wolf can go down to the valley, kill a calf, eat on it, and then go hide out in the forest.”

Wolf OR158 has been concentrating his efforts on one farm in particular run by Elise and Tom Flynn. Running the cattle business with his father, Tom’s wife Elise also runs a veterinarian clinic on the same property. On January 30th, Tom first came across the large wolf tracks on the road leading to the feed ground where his new calves were. 

“My husband went to feed the cow herd, and saw fresh and obvious wolf tracks in the road to the feed ground.” a Facebook post read. “ As he arrived, he found the wolf, sure enough, near a freshly killed calf and bawling mother cow. As he drove closer in the tractor, the wolf never ran off. He didn’t seem afraid at all..”

According to the post, Flynn placed a call to Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife seeking permission to shoot the wolf. Given the fact that the wolf was wearing a collar, game wardens offered him a stark warning that he’d end up in prison if anything happened to that wolf.

The department was on the scene to investigate the depredation events and soon triggered the designation of an Area of Depredating Wolves (ADW) along with the preparation of an Area-Specific Wolf Conflict Deterrence Plan that would be in place to assist producers and landowners in managing these conflicts.

In what sounds like a bunch of bureaucratic titles and red tape, local livestock producers and the board of county commissioners have since declared a state of emergency. In an effort to force the hand of wildlife officials, the Lake County Board of Commissioners, with support from the Lake County Sheriff, has declared Wolf OR158 a threat to public safety and livestock.

“ We hope that they'll continue to work hard to find a solution… we got to give them that space to do that. We respect their position they're in,” commissioner Shullanberger went on to say. “We just urge them to take action immediately and let's get this over with.”

According to the county, the US Department of Agriculture Animal Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) has made some efforts to thwart the wolf’s presence. Despite their best efforts of using a combination of drones, range riders and other non-lethal means, this wolf has displayed no signs of fear of humans and has otherwise been unfazed by these tactics.

Given the declaration of the public safety and livestock threat, the county is pressing on Oregon Governor Tina Kotek for intervention. The county is requesting that the state intervene and remove the wolf by any means necessary, which would include directing the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to pursue a permit for the taking of endangered species, as allowed under Code of Federal Regulations Title 50, Section 17.

“We're also not backing down because every day, that wolf gets hungry and needs to eat and that's not a good thing,” said Shullanberger.