By SAMANTHA TIPLER
H&N Staff Reporter
Klamath County, working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, will put together a toolbox of wolf deterrents thanks to a $6,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
Klamath County experienced its first livestock kill by a wolf in late October and early November, when officials believe a wolf dubbed OR-25 killed one calf and injured two more in the Fort Klamath area. In December Klamath County applied for the funding.
“This has been something long coming. I think we have taken for granted that someday we would have depredation from wolves attacking in Klamath County,” commission chairman Tom Mallams said during the board’s regular meeting Tuesday. “I think from the day they were reintroduced into Idaho, the citizens of Klamath County knew they were headed this way.”
The $6,000 from the state will be matched with $600 more from Klamath County, for a total of $6,600.
Non-lethal deterrents
“The $6,600, that is to help fund non-lethal methods of keeping wolves away from livestock,” Mallams said.
Lani Hickey, with the county’s public works department, said the county will work with ODFW to build boxes with items to help landowners detour wolves around their property.
Mallams said the $6,600 will not be used for compensation for the livestock owners. That comes from a different fund, the wolf depredation compensation fund.
“This first documented depredation happened up in the Fort Klamath area,” Mallams said. “One calf killed and two others badly hurt. All three considered 100 percent losses.”
The three attacks happened on private land in the area of the upper Williamson River. Officials believe it was OR-25 because his GPS radio collar showed him at or near the carcass five times between Oct. 28 and Nov. 2. OR-25 came from the Imnaha Pack in northeast Oregon. He arrived in the Klamath area in May. Officials chose to take non-lethal action against OR-25 after the attacks.