Guard Dog lost to Jureano Mountain Pack on Hussey's Ranch
4-2-99 addendum 4-5-99 and 4-24
Talk about a blast from the past! The Jureano wolf pack near Salmon has killed a Great Pyrenees guard dog, and ironically, the incident took place on Gene Hussey's ranch where the first reintroduced Idaho wolf was illegally killed back in January 1995.
The dog, badly bitten to death by the Jureanos, was found in the same field as was ill-fated wolf B13F back in 1995. The dog was owned by Jan Phillips. It was a sheep guard dog and apparently adept at chasing away coyotes. Speculation is it sensed the wolves nearby and left the barn where it slept with the sheep to give chase. . bad idea!
In a Post Register story, correspondent Candice Burns reported, "They mutilated my dog," Philips said. "It wasn't that they tore him to pieces; they just bit him to death. He didn't have a chance." No doubt it was true. In wolf encounters with dogs so far, the wolf packs make sure the dogs are plenty dead just as they do with rival wolves. Sometimes the ill-fated wolves and dogs have been torn asunder. Others, they were simply bitten many times.
Defenders of Wildlife has, per their standard procedure, offered to replace the dog according the Post Register story. Of course, the dog's training can't be replaced, except over time. Phillips turns her 60 head of sheep out soon and there are plenty of coyotes, which are serious predators on sheep in the area, and take many many times more sheep than the wolves do.
The Jureano Mountain Wolf Pack has a range between the town of Salmon on the east to Panther Creek on the west, and obviously to the south at least as far as Iron Creek. Hussey's Ranch is right where Iron Creek runs into the main fork of the Salmon River about 30 miles upstream (south) of the town of Salmon.
This is a controversial pack due to previous dog kills and its proximity to the excitable town of Salmon. The pack is the source of the B45F, the Blue Mountain Wolf who traveled to Oregon.
Addendum 4-5-99
I have learned a bit about Sam, the sheep dog killed by the Jureanos. Sam was a large Great Pyrenees. He had not been purchased to be a guard dog. He was to be a pet, but he soon left the house on his own to live with the sheep.
It seems that some dogs are born to work. Sam had his calling. I have heard many stories how border collies raised as pets will arrange objects, such as white rocks, in formations (herds?) and guard them.
Sam was big, perhaps 180 pounds, larger than any wolf. He was apparently a familiar sight in the area, riding in the pickup truck.
I'm sure Sam gave a plenty good fight.
Many of us have mixed feelings when the wolves that came to live with we humans battle it out with the wolves that stayed in the forest.
Addendum 4-24-99. Jan Philips has received a new, adult, fully-trained Great Pyrenees from Defenders of Wildlife.
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