Wolf population grows by 9.5 percent
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, April 21st, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
SALEM – State wildlife biologists counted 173 wolves in Oregon this past winter, which is a 9.5 percent increase over last year’s count of 158. The annual count, which goes into the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management 2020 Annual Report, was released today by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The count is considered the minimum known wolf count. It is not an estimate of how many wolves there are in the state. That number is considered likely to be higher.
A total of 22 packs were documented during the count. A pack is defined as four or more wolves traveling together in the winter. Of those packs, 17 had at least two adults and two pups that survived through the end of 2020. Seven other groups of two to three wolves not identified as breeding pairs, were also identified.
“While northeast Oregon continues to host majority of state’s wolf population, dispersal to other parts of Oregon and adjacent states continues,” ODFW Wolf Coordinator Roblyn Brown stated.
There were no new packs found in Western Oregon, but the total number of wolves in the region increased by at least 29 percent over the 2019 count. Eight collared wolves dispersed from their packs. Four of them moved to other locations in Oregon and two went to Idaho. One Oregon wolf moved to California, while another left California for Oregon.
A total of 21 wolves were captured and collared during 2020, which is up 14 over 2019. Four of those were due to licensed trappers promptly reporting their incidental capture of a wolf. ODFW collared and released all four from foothold traps.
Nine wolf mortalities were documented during 2020. Two of those were young wolves that died from natural causes. One was a pup from the Wenaha pack while another was a yearling with the Indigo pack.
Seven wolf deaths were caused by humans. One was hit by a vehicle on Interstate 84 while another was apparently killed by a boat while swimming across the Snake River. One was lawfully taken under the “caught in the act” rule.
Four wolves were killed illegally and three of those incidents are under investigation. They are the breeding male of the Ruckel Ridge pack who was shot in Umatilla County in May; the breeding male of the Cornucopia pack who was shot in September in Baker County; and a sub-adult wolf believed to be from the Pine Creek pack who was shot in October in Baker County.
Confirmed acts of depredation increased 94 percent over 2019. The majority (52 percent) was attributed to the Rogue pack with 16 attacks on livestock. ODFW did not lethally take any wolves in 2020 for repeated acts of depredation.
ODFW photo is a yearling from the Ruckel Ridge pack in east Umatilla County.
