NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Fatal virus hits deer herds
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo, File
An outbreak of an insect-spread disease has killed at least eight deer in Baker Valley in less
than a week, and a state wildlife biologist fears this outbreak could be much worse than
previous episodes.
much more susceptible to the
illness, he said.
An outbreak of EHD
killed an estimated 2,000
white-tailed deer in Umatilla
County during the fall of
2019.
Deer can’t spread the
virus, also known as blue
tongue, to other deer or
animals by direct contact.
Midges carrying the virus
can infect other animals,
including mule deer, elk,
pronghorn antelope, sheep
and cattle, but the mortal-
ity rate is much higher with
white-tailed deer than with
other species, Ratliff said.
The virus poses no threat
to people, cats or dogs. Nor
can people become ill by
eating the meat of a deer or
other animal infected with
EHD.
The biggest recent
outbreak in Baker County
happened during the late
summer and early fall of
2015, Ratliff said.
He said ODFW didn’t
compile an official death toll
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
Pleasant with
plenty of sunshine
Pleasant with
sunshine
Sunny and
pleasant
Pleasant with
plenty of sunshine
Pleasant with
plenty of sun
82° 54°
85° 55°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
81° 52°
79° 49°
71° 46°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
89° 60°
83° 54°
83° 48°
77° 51°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
73/56
78/50
84/52
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
83/58
Lewiston
82/56
86/52
Astoria
70/54
Pullman
Yakima 83/52
78/50
84/55
Portland
Hermiston
85/58
The Dalles 85/50
Salem
Corvallis
84/54
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
79/46
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
87/54
81/52
83/51
Ontario
86/49
Caldwell
Burns
78°
62°
88°
54°
99° (1934) 41° (1930)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
84/55
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
95/57
0.00"
Trace
0.15"
1.93"
1.66"
5.29"
then, but he believes many
dozens of white-tailed deer
died in the county in 2015.
Ratliff said epizo-
otic hemorrhagic disease
outbreaks typically start
later in the year, when water
sources are more scarce,
forcing deer to congregate
in those places and making
them more likely to either
be infected by midges or, in
the case of deer that already
carry the virus, to spread it to
midges that bite them.
The virus can spread in
both ways, he said — from
infected deer to midges, and
from infected midges to deer.
That allows the illness
to spread rapidly in certain
conditions.
Ratliff said outbreaks
usually dissipate once freez-
ing temperatures have killed
the year’s crop of midges.
Although infected mule
deer are much more likely
to survive than white-tailed
deer are, Ratliff said the
virus, which causes blood
vessel constriction, can have
severe and in some cases
permanent effects on mule
deer.
The vascular constric-
tion can cause the testicles
to shrivel and eventually
fall off infected mule deer
bucks, which renders them
incapable of breeding, Ratliff
said. That means bucks can’t
produce testosterone, the
hormone that causes bucks
to shed their antlers every
year. When that happens the
buck can have antlers for the
rest of its life, and the antlers
typically remain in the velvet
Today
Sun.
NNE 3-6
NNW 4-8
WSW 4-8
NW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
88/44
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:12 a.m.
7:40 p.m.
10:37 p.m.
12:45 p.m.
Last
New
First
Full
Aug 29
Sep 6
Sep 13
Sep 20
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 116° in El Centro, Calif. Low 27° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
WEST RICHLAND —
A violent, fiery rampage
that stretched from Finley,
Washington, to West Rich-
land ended with a shootout
with police early Wednes-
day, Aug. 25.
Police believe at least
one person died in Finley,
another was wounded and
the suspect was killed in
West Richland.
The 43-year-old man
suspected of leaving a trail
of destruction, including
possibly setting fire to a
union hall in Kennewick,
reportedly died inside a
burning pickup truck after
exchanging gunfire with
officers.
A family member of one
of the shooting victims told
the Tri-City Herald that
the suspect shot and killed
one man and wounded the
victim’s adult son where
they lived in Finley. Then
the house was set on fire,
said the relative.
The three men were
neighbors and their property
shared a driveway, accord-
ing to Benton County prop-
erty records.
Benton County coro-
ner officials were called to
Finley and to the West Rich-
land area, and the Regional
Special Investigations Unit,
which investigates officer-in-
volved shootings, has been
asked to investigate.
“The incident that
occurred in West Richland
is in connection to numer-
ous arsons and a shooting
in the Finley area,” said
an early-morning Benton
County Sheriff’s Office post.
The wounded man was
taken to Trios Southridge
Hospital in Kennewick,
according to initial reports.
Benton County sheriff’s
deputies were told to watch
out for the assault and arson
suspect wearing a ballistic
helmet and tactical gear,
armed with an assault rifle
and driving a Dodge pickup.
A fire was reported at the
International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers Local
Union 112 building.
“Sprinklers inside of the
building quickly contained
the fire after it started,”
Kennewick Fire Chief Chad
Michael wrote in a tweet.
Initial reports to dispatch-
ers said the “suspect vehi-
cle in the arson is also the
suspect vehicle in that call-
out in Finley.”
The orange pickup truck
with a canopy was appar-
ently spotted by Washing-
ton State Patrol troopers and
officers, who followed the
driver as he headed toward
West Richland, according to
initial reports.
Officers were told to
back off and “give him
some space,” and he started
to slow down on Van Giesen
— the main street leading
from Richland into West
Richland.
He reportedly was swerv-
ing and then flames erupted
and the truck came to a stop
near a car wash.
Officers then reported
“shots fired.” Dispatch-
ers were told to contact the
nearby mobile home to be
evacuated.
“Shots fired by me, as
well,” said an officer.
By then the truck was
engulfed in flames with the
man still inside, according to
officers at the scene.
Firefighters were kept
back for safety reasons and
it burned for at least 30
minutes before an armored
SWAT vehicle could pull up
close and douse some of the
flames.
Bob Brawdy/Tri-City Herald
A line of police officers walk past the burned up pickup
Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021, near The Wash Stop car wash at
4024 W. Van Giesen St. in West Richland, Washington. The
driver was involved in shootings and arson fires starting in
Finley, Washington.
IN BRIEF
WINDS (in mph)
80/47
82/40
0.00"
0.01"
0.28"
4.37"
8.68"
8.59"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 77/47
87/56
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
82/54
89/58
76°
59°
86°
56°
103° (1916) 40° (1911)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
77/51
Olympia
79/53
83/58
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
77/55
Aberdeen
Rampage across Tri-Cities
ends with officer shooting
By CAMERON
PROBERT
Tri-City Herald
BAKER CITY — An
outbreak of an insect-spread
disease has killed at least
eight deer in Baker Valley
in less than a week, and
a state wildlife biologist
fears this outbreak could be
much worse than previous
episodes.
The often-fatal illness
is epizootic hemorrhagic
disease, which is caused by
a virus spread by the bite of
midges that breed in stagnant
water.
Brian Ratliff, district
wildlife biologist at the
Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s Baker
City office, said he received
several calls over the week-
end from residents who
found dead deer on their
properties in the Pine Creek
and Ben Dier Lane area, at
the western edge of Baker
Valley about 12 miles north-
west of Baker City.
Based on that cluster of
cases, the disease seems to be
spreading more rapidly than
in previous outbreaks in the
valley, Ratliff said.
EHD can kill white-tailed
and mule deer — the first two
carcasses Ratliff examined
this weekend were mule
deer — but whitetails are
85° 50°
Saturday, August 28, 2021
Washington state orders
the killing of up to 2 wolves
SPOKANE, Wash. — The state of Wash-
ington on Thursday, Aug. 26, ordered the
killing of one or two wolves from the Togo
Pack in Ferry County in response to repeated
attacks on cattle.
The state Department of Fish and Wild-
life said nonlethal deterrents used by three
different ranchers had not stopped the
attacks.
The department had documented one dead
and three injured calves since June 24. The
attacks were attributed to the Togo Pack.
Three occurred within the last 30 days.
“Removing individual wolves is one of
the toughest decisions we face and is never
taken lightly,” said Julia Smith, wolf policy
lead for the department. “Those communi-
ties and WDFW staff have worked diligently
to protect their livestock and meet expecta-
tions, and the season has been relatively quiet
until now. August and September are typi-
cally months in which wolf-livestock conflict
peaks, so this is not unexpected.”
The pack consists of five adult wolves and
four pups, the department said.
Ranchers tried a variety of approved meth-
ods to deter the wolves — including using
range riders, removing sick or injured cattle
and properly disposing of dead cattle — but
those methods failed, the department said.
Killing one or two wolves from the Togo
Pack territory is not expected to harm the
wolf population’s ability to reproduce in the
state, the agency said. The department has
documented three known wolf deaths in the
state since Jan. 1. In previous years, it has
documented 12 to 21 wolf deaths per year,
and the population has continued to grow.
An environmental group decried the kill
order.
At the end of 2020, the state’s wolf popula-
tion consisted of only 132 wolves confirmed
by the wildlife agency and another 46 wolves
estimated on the Colville Indian Reserva-
tion. Washington state is home to 1.1 million
cattle, the Center for Biological Diversity
said.
“It’s such a tragedy that Washington’s
Department of Fish and Wildlife has once
again put the Togo Pack in the crosshairs,”
said Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate
at the center. “Rather than continue to work
with better alternatives, the agency insists on
killing wolves to appease livestock owners.”
—EO Media Group
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