The Post Register has reported that a yearling female from the Moyer Basin pack was involved in the depredation of a cow and three calves near the remote ghost town of Cobalt, deep in the Salmon River Mountains of central Idaho. It is possible that other members of the pack were involved.
The 83-pound uncollared wolf was trapped right on top of the cow's carcass, according to Layne Bangerter of Wildlife Services in Boise. The female wolf was radio-collared and released near Fish Lake about 50 miles to the north in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in an area with no livestock.
This is the first verified attack on livestock by Idaho wolves in a year. Wolf B31M killed a number of sheep near Warren last summer. Attempts to trap him failed, but he moved on to settle about 150 miles to the north in the headwaters of the St. Joe River.
The cattle in the latest incident were the property of McGee Latimer of May, Idaho, a hamlet in the Pahsimeroi Valley about 60 miles to the east of Cobalt.
According to Wildlife Services, the cows were killed on July 22 and 23 about a quarter mile from each other. The female wolf was trapped Sunday with a leg hold trap.
Tracks around the dead cattle showed more than one wolf, perhaps including the alpha male of the pack. Since then the pack has moved to a location about ten miles away. The Moyer pack now consists of the alpha pair, four yearlings, and a number of pups born this spring.
"Two strikes" for Idaho wolves is still in effect. The move to a "one strike" policy was delayed when the alpha pair of the Landmark Pack died from unknown causes this April on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. This reduced the number of breeding pairs of wolves in the Idaho experimental wolf area to less than six. Story on two strikes.
Bangerter said that if there's another predation Wildlife Services would return and trap another wolf.
The Post Register story indicated that there was good cooperation between the rancher and Wildlife Services.
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