The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) disclosed that they have received a kill request for members of the Imnaha wolf pack in NE Oregon. Oregon’s wildlife agency recently removed state endangered species protections from gray wolves and has illegally delayed an update to the state’s wolf management plan.
Oregon Wild Executive Director Sean Stevens released the following statement:
ODFW should not be killing members of the Imnaha Pack, or any wolves for that matter, while the wolf plan remains under review and out of date.
Background:
The original 2005 wolf plan and its 2010 revision were a point of conflict between stakeholders. A 2013 agreement between the livestock industry, conservationists, and the state established clear, defensible guidelines to determine when killing a wolf could be considered. Livestock operators in wolf country had to make efforts to prevent conflict through non-lethal measures and ODFW had to be transparent to the public. Those standards provided certainty to all parties but are no longer in place in Eastern Oregon.
With those safeguards in place, wolf killing was not necessary. In that time (2013-2015) Oregon was the only state in the nation with a meaningful wolf population that did not kill them. In contrast to states with aggressive wolf killing programs, Oregon’s fragile wolf population grew while conflict between livestock and wolves decreased. The state is now home to 110 known wolves in 12 packs. Thirty-five are pups less than a year old and wolves are still absent from nearly ninety percent of their available habitat.
Given ambiguity in the current wolf plan, increased poaching, premature delisting, and renewed calls from special interest groups for aggressive killing, the public has every reason to be concerned for Oregon’s recovering wolf population.
So far there has been no indication that sufficient non-lethal measures were taken to prevent this conflict. State taxpayers have provided tens of thousands of dollars in equipment and for labor to implement non-lethal conflict prevention measures in Wallowa County alone. Given that those tools are readily available and proven effective, it is fair for the public to ask if RAG boxes, fladry, and other tools were utilized effectively. In fact, no livestock animal has been killed behind fladry in Wallowa County. Carcasses left to rot in fields with unattended calves and other vulnerable livestock nearby create conflict and field reports indicate just such circumstances in the area.
The public is entitled to a full accounting of how we got to this point and where we go from here. ODFW and citizens must work to avoid unnecessary conflict and killing. Wolf recovery depends on ODFW’s commitment to eliminating ambiguity, preventing conflict, and educating the public.
###
