Wolf kills cow on E. Oregon ranch
BAKER CITY, Ore. (AP) — A wolf from the Imnaha pack killed a cow recently in eastern Baker County, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife confirms.
The cow belonged to the Pine Valley Ranch, based at Halfway, which has a permit to graze as many as 500 cows on Forest Service land in the Sugarloaf Reservoir area of northeast Oregon.
Manager Merlin Flake says the remains of the cow were found Friday by Forest Service employees.
The Baker City Herald reports it's the first confirmed wolf depredation of livestock in Baker County since 2009.
>>> Read the investigation summary
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Information from: Baker City Herald, http://www.bakercityherald.com/
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
One cow in three years is really not a big deal when you consider the fact that the rancher pays next to nothing to graze his cattle on public land, and doesn't employee anyone to watch over the cattle, then gets paid for the loss. It is the tax payer left with the burden of paying the ranchers and trying to protect the wolves.
They are predators, that is how they survive. If ODFW thought that cattle and wolves could coexist they aren't very intelligent. There are three basic choices, let the wolves keep killing and the taxpayer paying for the kill, or close the land to grazing. A third option seems highly unlikely, eliminate the wolf pack. These ranchers have been using the reserve for years, actually for decades, so that option is also highly unlikely. So we are probably left with paying for the kills.Â