Wolves blamed for cow killed in southwestern Oregon

BUTTE FALLS, Ore. (AP) — The Rogue Pack of gray wolves has made its way back to Jackson County in southwestern Oregon and killed a cow, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The pack created by the now-dead wolf known as OR-7 was blamed for a Thursday kill of a year-old cow in the Rancheria area east of Butte Falls, The Mail Tribune reported.

Fish and Wildlife officials say the heifer was on private grass pasture about a quarter-mile from the rancher’s home. The carcass was discovered with the entrails and part of its hind legs consumed.

The injuries were consistent with previous livestock kills by wolves in the area known to be Rogue Pack habitat and thus was attributed to the pack, officials said.

The Rogue Pack had recently been in the Wood River Valley area of western Klamath County, on the eastern edge of the pack’s known range, according to agency reports.

But the pack has been known to cross the Cascade Mountains crest and move into eastern Jackson County in late fall, said Steve Niemela, ODFW Rogue District wildlife biologist.

The pack’s matriarch, known as OR-94 based on the GPS-transmitting collar she now wears, was not in the immediate area of last week’s kill, Niemela said. But, it's not unusual for members of the pack to hunt independently and then regroup, he said.

The Rogue Pack is now blamed for 37 livestock or dog kills since 2016, and the recent kill was its third last month.

The latest livestock kill comes after the Trump Administration moved to strip gray wolves of federal Endangered Species Act protections in the lower 48 states, but the decision has yet to take effect.

Gray wolves in Western Oregon are listed as endangered under the act.