Tag Archives: OR7

Rogue Pack wolves strike again

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by Mail Tribune staff

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Wolf OR-7 is pictured in southwest Oregon. AP Photo / USFWS
https://mailtribune.com/news/top-stories/rogue-pack-wolves-strike-again

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has confirmed new kills by a group of Southern Oregon wolves called the Rogue Pack.

A 300-pound calf was found dead by a ranch hand last Friday, and a second 300-pound calf was found dead Saturday in the Rancheria area of Jackson County near the border with Klamath County, according to a press release issued by ODFW.

The Rogue Pack, which includes the famous wandering wolf OR-7, is suspected of killing more than a dozen livestock animals in western Jackson and eastern Klamath counties, according to ODFW.

The calf found dead at about 9 a.m. Friday was in a grass pasture on private land. Most of the muscle tissue from the hind legs as well as most organs had been consumed. The 5-month-old calf was estimated to have died within 12 hours of being discovered dead, ODFW said.

The calf had bite wounds on its legs, abdomen, shoulders and back. Bite marks, bleeding and muscle tissue trauma were similar to injuries observed on other calves attacked by wolves, the agency said.

“This depredation is attributed to wolves of the Rogue Pack,” ODFW said in a summary of its investigation.

The second calf was about 7 months old and was also in a pasture on private land. A ranch hand found its body at about 7 a.m. Saturday, and ODFW believes it also died within 12 hours of being found.

Unlike the first calf, the second calf’s carcass was largely intact, with about 95 percent of the muscle tissue and hide still remaining, ODFW said.

ODFW’s report attributed the second killing to the Rogue Pack, as well.

Ranchers in the Rogue Pack’s range have used a variety of tactics to try and fend off the wolves, including guard dogs, electric fences, lights, bright flags, noisemakers and a flailing, inflatable dancer like those sometimes used to attract people’s attention at car dealerships.

The devices have scared off wolves at first, until they become used to them.

OR-7 pack gets company: Another adult wolf has been spotted in Southern Oregon

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http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/01/another_adult_wolf_has_been_sp.html

By Kelly House | The Oregonian/OregonLive The Oregonian
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on January 13, 2015 at 1:32 PM, updated January 13, 2015 at 3:20 PM
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Another adult wolf has joined OR-7 and his mate in southern Oregon.

State fish and wildlife officials are preparing to create a new “area of known wolf activity” on public and private land south of Klamath Falls after catching an adult gray wolf on camera early this month near Keno.

They know the wolf isn’t OR-7, his mate, or one of the pair’s pups, but little else is known about the new wolf, said John Stephenson, a wolf coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Oregon.

“It just demonstrates that there’s a fair number of dispersing wolves out there that we assume are coming from Idaho or Northeastern Oregon,” Stephenson said. “We’re seeing these wolves pop up so far away from their known distribution area, and we are getting sightings in-between.”

wolf sightingView full sizeA remote camera image taken Jan. 5 shows a gray wolf in the Keno Unit, which is located in the southwest Cascades near the California border. Photo courtesy of ODFW

Wildlife officials confirmed the wolf’s presence by installing a wildlife camera early this month after finding tracks in the snow in December. Stephenson said because the wolf isn’t collared, wildlife biologists can only guess where he or she came from – likely Northeastern Oregon, where the bulk of Oregon’s wolves live.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife wolf coordinator Russ Morgan said state and federal scientists hope to gather additional information about the new wolf through surveys by searching for scat, listening for howls and monitoring trail cameras. If the wolf sticks around, he said, they could attempt to collar it.

The confirmed wolf sighting is promising news for wildlife advocates who cheered OR-7’s pioneering trip through Oregon and into California, where wolves had not existed for 90 years.

OR-7 later returned to Oregon and paired with a black female wolf who had strayed from Northeastern Oregon or Idaho. She gave birth to at least three pups last spring. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department announced last week that it was granting the wolf family pack status – a term that helps solidify their territory in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and indicates at least two of the pups have survived through the new year.

The new wolf sighting brings gray wolves one step closer to recovery in this part of the state. If the wolf sticks around, he or she could offer genetic diversity as OR-7’s pups eventually wander off to find their own mates.

“It’s another great step forward for the story of the wolf in Oregon,” said Rob Klavins, wolf advocate for the conservation group Oregon Wild. “The story of OR-7 and his family have been great, but the reality is it takes more than a single pack for there to be a meaningful recovery.”

Oregon once harbored a large wolf population, but human encroachment and hunting eradicated the animals from the state in the 1940s. Their reestablishment began in the mid-2000s, when a group crossed into Northeastern Oregon from Idaho. At last count, there were 64 known wolves in the state, but the number is expected to grow when the latest annual numbers are released in the coming weeks or months.

Oregon’s wolves are protected under the state Endangered Species Act, and federal safeguards also shelter wolves west of west of highways 78, 95 and 395. However, state wildlife officials could soon reconsider their protections for the Northeastern wolves.

Oregon’s decade-old wolf plan notes that wolves may “be considered” for delisting when at least four breeding pairs are documented in Northeastern Oregon for three straight years. State officials expect to reach that milestone when the 2014 numbers come out.

If the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission opts to remove protections, the newly established Southern Oregon wolves will be unaffected. The state treats Eastern and Western Oregon as two distinct wolf management areas, and wolves west of highways 97, 20, and 39 must meet separate population milestones before they could lose state protections. Plus, the federal Endangered Species Act provides an additional layer of protection.

–Kelly House

khouse@oregonian.com

503-221-8178

@Kelly_M_House

Wolf pups confirmed in Oregon Cascades for first time since 1940s

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By Mark Furman Published: Jun 4, 2014 at 9:38 AM PDT Last Updated: Jun 4, 2014 at 12:15 PM PDT
Two of wolf OR-7’s pups peek out from a log on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, June 2, 2014. Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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EUGENE, Ore. – Biologists confirmed that Oregon’s wandering wolf is a proud papa.

OR-7 and his mate have produced offspring in southwestern Oregon, the first pups confirmed born in the Oregon Cascades since the 1940s.

“This is very exciting news,” said Paul Henson, state supervisor of the Oregon U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office.  “It continues to illustrate that gray wolves are being recovered.”

Rep. Peter DeFazio cheered the discovery but vowed to oppose removing the wolf form the Endangered Species List.
“This is great news, but the critical federal protections that have allowed OR-7 to start his new pack are in jeopardy,” DeFazio, D-Oregon, said. “As we celebrate OR-7 and his new family, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is threatening to disregard science and take the gray wolf off the Endangered Species list. If the Service delists the gray wolf, states could declare open season on gray wolves like OR-7, his mate, and these new pups. For over a year, I have fought to keep these critical federal protections for gray wolves and will continue to do so until Fish and Wildlife Service makes their final decision later this year.”

Biologists theorized last month that OR-7 had found a mate after spotting a female in the same vicinity. 

GPS data from a collar on OR-7 also showed that the wandering wolf, which had walked from Northeastern Oregon to California and back into Southern Oregon over the last few years, had stuck around the same area of the southern Oregon Cascades, suggesting a possible den and offspring.

OR-7’s territory includes eastern Douglas County south to the California border.

On June 2, biologists observed and photographed 2 pups. They suspect there could be as many as 4 or 6 pups, based on typical wolf litters.

Wolves in Oregon are protected by the state Endangered Species Act.  Wolves west of Oregon Highways 395, 78 and 95 are also protected by the federal Endangered Species Act. 

At the end of 2013, there were 64 known wolves in Oregon.  

Most known wolves are in the northeast corner of the state. 

OR-7 was born in April 2009 in northeastern Oregon in the area around the Imnaha River.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife collared him with a GPS tracker in February 2011, allowing biologists to observe his movements.

He left the pack in September 2011 and walked across Oregon and into California on Dec. 28, 2011, the first known wolf in that state since 1924.  

Since March 2013, OR-7 has spent the majority of its time in the southwest Cascades in the Cascades south of Crater Lake.  

Wolf OR7 may have found a mate

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May 12, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore.— OR7, a wolf originally from northeast Oregon, may have found a mate in southwest Oregon’s Cascade Mountains.

In early May, remote cameras on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest captured several images of what appears to be a black female wolf in the same area where OR7 is currently located. The images were found by wildlife biologists when they checked cameras on May 7.

The remote cameras were set up by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) as part of ongoing cooperative wolf monitoring efforts.  New images of OR7 were also captured on the same cameras and can be accessed and viewed at ODFW’s wolf photo gallery (see first three images).

“This information is not definitive, but it is likely that this new wolf and OR7 have paired up.  More localized GPS collar data from OR7 is an indicator that they may have denned,” said John Stephenson, Service wolf biologist. “If that is correct, they would be rearing pups at this time of year.”

The Service and ODFW probably won’t be able to confirm the presence of pups until June or later, the earliest pup surveys are conducted, so as not to disturb them at such a young age.  Wolf pups are generally born in mid-April, so any pups would be less than a month old at this time.

If confirmed, the pups would mark the first known wolf breeding in the Oregon Cascades since the early 20th century.

Wolf OR7 is already well-known due to his long trek and his search for a mate—normal behavior for a wolf, which will leave a pack to look for new territory and for a chance to mate.  “This latest development is another twist in OR7’s interesting story,” said Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator.

The Service and ODFW will continue to monitor the area to gather additional information on the pair and possible pups. That monitoring will include the use of remote cameras, DNA sample collection from scats found, and pup surveys when appropriate.

Wolves throughout Oregon are protected by the state Endangered Species Act.  Wolves west of Oregon Highways 395-78-95, including OR7 and the female wolf, are also protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, with the Service as the lead management agency.

At the end of last year, there were 64 known wolves in Oregon.  Except for OR7, most known wolves are in the northeast corner of the state.

About OR7

OR7 was born into northeast Oregon’s Imnaha wolf pack in April 2009 and collared by ODFW on Feb. 25, 2011.  He left the pack in September 2011, travelled across Oregon and into California on Dec. 28, 2011, becoming the first known wolf in that state since 1924.

Other wolves have travelled further, and other uncollared wolves may have made it to California.  But OR7’s GPS collar, which transmits his location data several times a day, enabled wildlife managers to track him closely.

Since March 2013, OR7 has spent the majority of his time in the southwest Cascades in an area mapped on ODFW’s website.

###

Contact:

Department of the Interior
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Fish & Wildlife Office
2600 SE 98th Avenue, Suite 100, Portland, Oregon  97266
Contact: Elizabeth Materna, Phone: 503-231-6179 Fax: 503-231-6195
http://www.fws.gov/oregonfwo/

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Michelle Dennehy
Michelle.N.Dennehy@state.or.us
Tel. (503) 947-6022

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2014/may/051214.asp

copyrighted wolf in river