November 15, 2011 | 4:46 PM | By

Court: State plan to kill wolves still on hold

FILED UNDER: Fish & Wildlife, Wolves

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

The Imnaha wolf pack alpha male is one of two wolves sentenced to die to reduce wolf attacks on livestock in northeast Oregon.

The Oregon Court of Appeals decided today to keep a temporary ban on killing the two trouble-making wolves in the Imnaha pack.

The court also required conservation groups to provide $5,000 in security to repay ranchers for wolf depredations while the court considers whether the state’s plan to kill the wolves is legal.

Wolves in the Imnaha pack have been tied to numerous livestock losses in Oregon’s Wallowa County. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife plans to kill two wolves to shrink the size of the pack and reduce the likelihood of more depredations.

Conservation groups have challenged the state’s plan in court and have asked for the plan to be halted while the court considers their case. The court agreed to stop the state from killing the wolves temporarily while the case was deliberated.

The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association asked the court to reconsider, but the group’s motion was denied. So, the state’s plan to kill the wolves is still on hold.

A bit more intriguing is that the court wants a $5,000 security deposit to cover potential livestock losses (you can read more details in the court document here) caused by the two wolves that would have been dead if the state’s plan had gone forward. Of course there are several conditions on how that money might be spent. Here’s the meaty part:

  • Evan Stanbro

    The past
    few months I have found myself incredibly interested in the northeast Oregon
    wolf issue. While I do not personally have experience ranching in Wallowa
    County, I did grow up on a cattle ranch on the western side of the state, and
    have spent a tremendous amount of time on family ranches in Grant
    County. Now, an undergraduate student at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, I
    am spending a semester analyzing the conflict with wolves in Oregon. While I
    respect the concerns of ranchers, I recognize wolves are here to stay, and
    believe we must work together to find the best solutions to allow wolves and
    humans to live in peaceful coexistence with one another. To achieve this, we
    must decrease the amount of livestock depredation as much as we can, which will
    in some cases result in lethal control of troublesome wolves. However, available
    data suggests we may need to rethink our lethal control policies, because
    lethal control of wolves may actually be counter-productive in mitigating
    livestock depredation, because large wolf
    packs may be better equipped to hunt ungulates, while smaller packs and lone
    wolves may be forced to kill livestock to survive. Thus, lethal control may
    decrease a pack’s size, harming the pack’s ability to hunt ungulates, resulting
    in even more livestock kills. Therefore, we must examine the relationship between
    livestock depredation and wolf pack size in more depth. To view my report on this issue, see
    here (https://sge.lclark.edu/2011/12/06/managing-oregon%E2%80%99s-wolves-by-understanding-wolf-culture/).

  • Evan Stanbro

    The past
    few months I have found myself incredibly interested in the northeast Oregon
    wolf issue. While I do not personally have experience ranching in Wallowa
    County, I did grow up on a cattle ranch on the western side of the state, and
    have spent a tremendous amount of time on family ranches in Grant
    County. Now, an undergraduate student at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, I
    am spending a semester analyzing the conflict with wolves in Oregon. While I
    respect the concerns of ranchers, I recognize wolves are here to stay, and
    believe we must work together to find the best solutions to allow wolves and
    humans to live in peaceful coexistence with one another. To achieve this, we
    must decrease the amount of livestock depredation as much as we can, which will
    in some cases result in lethal control of troublesome wolves. However, available
    data suggests we may need to rethink our lethal control policies, because
    lethal control of wolves may actually be counter-productive in mitigating
    livestock depredation, because large wolf
    packs may be better equipped to hunt ungulates, while smaller packs and lone
    wolves may be forced to kill livestock to survive. Thus, lethal control may
    decrease a pack’s size, harming the pack’s ability to hunt ungulates, resulting
    in even more livestock kills. Therefore, we must examine the relationship between
    livestock depredation and wolf pack size in more depth. To view my report on this issue, see
    here (https://sge.lclark.edu/2011/12/06/managing-oregon%E2%80%99s-wolves-by-understanding-wolf-culture/).