A depredation associated with the Wildcat Pack
By Paul Hall on Monday, September 13th, 2021 in Northeastern Oregon News Northeastern Oregon Top Stories
WALLOWA COUNTY – (Information provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) General situation and animal information: Midday on 9/8/21, a ranch manager found a dead, sevenmonth-old, 400 lb. calf in a 6,000-acre private-land forested pasture. The carcass was intact with the majority of the soft tissue having been consumed. The calf was estimated to have died within 24 hours of the investigation.
Physical evidence and summary of findings: The carcass was shaved and skinned. There were multiple parallel pre-mortem bite scrapes up to ¼” wide on the hide of the right hind leg above the hock, and numerous similarly sized scrapes on the remaining hide of the left hind leg, both front legs near the elbows, and throat. Pre-mortem hemorrhaging and tissue trauma up to 1 ½” deep was found on the right rear leg above the hock and the throat. The location, size, and number of tooth scrapes and severity of associated tissue trauma is similar to other confirmed wolf attacks on calves. The depredation is attributed to the Wildcat Pack.
