OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
ODFW:
Continued from Page A1
He emphasized that he
doesn’t mean elimination of
wolves as a species.
“We’re not talking about
total eradication of wolves,”
he said. “When wolves get
to be chronic depredators of
livestock, then you have to
be eff ective managers.”
But the kill permit issued
to Birkmaier allows what
is already legal in Ore-
gon’s eastside cattle country,
where wolves were removed
from the state’s endangered
species list in 2015. State
law allows a rancher to
eliminate wolves after two
confi rmed kills of cattle.
“We already have permit-
less take in that anybody on
this side of the state where
wolves are chasing, biting,
killing their livestock, they
have the authority to go
ahead and kill the wolves,”
he said. “So the permit they
gave was not much diff erent
than what we already have
available to us.”
Nash said the ODFW
issuance of a kill per-
mit wasn’t eff ective wolf
management.
“Their response was to
give two kill permits for a
given area. In that area, it’s
restrictive,” Nash said. “I’m
going to use the example of
if (serial killer) Ted Bundy
moved out of one apartment
and into another, you’d just
say, ‘Oh, he’s moved now.
You can’t arrest him.’ …
Instead of the whole pack,
they’ve restricted the area
down.”
Nash showed photo-
graphs of sheep that were
killed April 29 in the Elk
Mountain area of Wallowa
County. Three lambs and
two ewes were killed and
the report blamed the depre-
dation on coyotes, offi cially
calling the responsibility
“other.”
He showed photos of
fresh wolf tracks nearby and
a dog track to compare for
size. He also decried what
ODFW said was a coyote
attack.
“Those (wolf) tracks
were right next to where
the sheep we’re killed,” he
said. “And they’re calling it
McCloud:
Continued from Page A1
McCloud also takes
issue with not being invited
to the Dorchester Confer-
ence at Mount Hood Oregon
Resort on April 22-24 where
a gubernatorial debate and
straw poll was held.
“The Dorchester brands
itself as the oldest Republi-
can conference west of the
Mississippi, and they also
say all Oregon Republi-
can governors come through
Dorchester,” he said. “For
them not to have reached out
to me or invited me says one
thing.”
Thielman did attend
the conference and won
the straw poll, something
McCloud’s name was left off
of. McCloud sees a connec-
tion between the events at
the Linn County forum and
Todd Nash/Contributed Photos
Left: The elongated nature of a wolf track makes it distinctly diff erent from a dog or coyote track, said Todd Nash, a Wallowa
County rancher, county commissioner and president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. Right: The footprint of a dog, in
contrast to that of a wolf, is generally rounder. Both were found at the scene of a sheep kill April 29 in the Elk Mountain area.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the kill was by coyotes.
a coyote? But there wasn’t a
fresh coyote track out there.
There were some old ones.”
Williams also was on the
scene of the attack on the
sheep. He agreed it was a
wolf attack and not coyotes.
Nash said he went right
to the top of the agency.
“They’re
absolutely
wrong on this one,” he said.
“I did ask for a review, I
talked to the director and
asked for a review … that
they take a keen look at this
because they’re just wrong.”
Like Birkmaier about his
agent who shot a wolf, the
owner of the sheep wanted
to remain anonymous. Both
hope to keep a good rela-
tionship with ODFW.
Birkmaier said the local
ODFW agents have off ered
to help tend his cattle.
Nash mentioned another
case where he believed
ODFW had fallen short. Last
year the Lookout Moun-
tain pack killed cattle and
ODFW hunters killed two
wolf cubs. Later, the hunters
killed two more.
“But why kill the pups
when it’s the adults who
do the hunting?” Nash
asked. “It was like punish-
ing the kids for their parents’
misbehavior.”
Michelle
Dennehy,
ODFW spokeswoman, said
the Lookout Mountain pack
was a diffi cult case.
“This was an attempt
to keep the pack intact,”
she said. “The breeding
male and female were col-
lared and with all those
mouths to feed can lead to
depredation.”
She said the “cubs” were
partially grown and already
hunters.
“These were 40-pound
wolves that were no longer
in the den,” Dennehy said.
“Lookout Mountain was a
tough one. … It worked for a
while, but started up again.”
the results of the Dorches-
ter Conference contributing
to him being excluded from
other gubernatorial events.
He said there are a number
of Oregon counties he has
reached out to multiple times
since beginning his campaign
that he has heard no response
from. McCloud said Oregon
Republican National Com-
mitteewoman Tracy Honl
told him any changes to party
bylaws would occur after this
year’s election.
He believes there is strong
evidence that his race plays a
part in all these events.
“All I am asking, as a
legally qualifi ed candi-
date, is to be treated equally
among other legally-qual-
ifi ed candidates, but that is
the exact opposite of what I
have seen in my experience
as a Republican running
for offi ce,” he said. “Marc
Thielman has made several
comments with me in the
room (involving race).”
Despite the unfair treat-
ment he perceives, McCloud
said he is as “driven as ever”
to continue fi ghting for jus-
tice and election integrity.
“I believe these actions
are in direct violation of Ore-
gon voter integrity because it
doesn’t give equal opportu-
nity to legally qualifi ed can-
didates within the party to
speak to their party mem-
bers,” he said.
McCloud, a Linn County
resident, is a former Eastern
Oregon University student
from 2012-16 who works
for an aerospace and defense
manufacturer as a business
analyst. During his time at
EOU, he was homeless and
supporting his family, which
includes his wife and three
daughters. He is four cred-
its from graduating with a
degree in public administra-
tion and a minor in business
administration.
Agency report
The most recent livestock
kills in Wallowa County
reported on ODFW’s wolf
depredation report were
on April 30. Three more
attacks were listed in Baker
County on May 5.
Birkmaier said he’s lost
a couple more calves this
month and he’s spending
time treating one of the
calves that he’s unsure if it
will survive.
“I’m spending an hour
a day doctoring the other
one,” he said. “I can’t get
ahead of the infection.”
He said he understands
it takes a while for the
agency to complete inves-
tigations and list the dep-
redations, but wolves don’t
wait around for agency
paperwork.
“Generally, they take
great deal of time when
time is of the essence,” Wil-
liams said.
Dennehy said determi-
nations of reported wolf
kills are generally reported
within 48 hours of a pro-
ducer’s report. When the
agency’s determination is
considered unsatisfactory
to the producer, a review
process is available.
“If requested by the
owner of the livestock, we
have a process to review
disputed
determinations
and that is happening now,”
said Dennehy about the
April 29 sheep kill.
As of May 9, the report
still said “bite wounds
were consistent with coy-
ote attacks on sheep” and
listed the determination as
“other.”
Nonlethal eff orts
not enough
Birkmaier has been
known for his eff orts to use
nonlethal deterrents to keep
wolves at bay.
“He’s doing every nonle-
thal (action) everybody can
dream up,” Williams said.
“What was more eff ective
was he had a lot of people
out there helping with non-
lethal presence of humans.”
“I’m
still
continu-
ing the relentless nonle-
thal measures, including
two AM-FM radios, two
fox lights that come on
at night and motion-trig-
gered noise-making devices
that have a siren and fl ash-
ing lights,” Birkmaier said.
“I’ve been putting those
in saddles on ridges or any
natural crossing area where
wolves may enter pasture.”
But there are only so
many hours in the day and
a rancher has other jobs
besides tending cattle.
“I’m still averaging 16-20
hours a day with the cows,”
he said. “You know how far
behind I am and how my
family’s suff ering from not
having a dad and husband
around?”
But late April and early
May are a critical time
for ranchers, who nor-
mally spend time main-
taining fences, harrowing,
doing fi eldwork and prepar-
ing canals for the irrigation
season.
“When there’s a time to
kill wolves, they’re the ones
who should be doing it,”
Williams said of ODFW.
“That’s the type of manage-
ment we need to see out of
the ODFW.”
He stressed that the state
isn’t doing its part.
“They haven’t done their
job of managing wolves and
let Tom do his ranching,”
he said “It’s ODFW who
should’ve been doing the
killing.”
Nash doesn’t see any end
in sight, at least this year.
“Wolves are by nature
scavengers or hunters,” he
said. “I fully expect that
they’ll do it all summer
long and I fully expect that
ODFW will follow suit and
make up excuses for not
confi rming and not inves-
tigating and for not taking
eff ective lethal manage-
ment practices when it’s
completely in their purview
to do that.”
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