For Immediate Release, August 23, 2021
Contact: |
Amaroq Weiss, (707) 779-9613, aweiss@biologicaldiversity.org |
Oregon Renews Kill Order for Members of Lookout Mountain Wolf Pack
Latest Order Comes Weeks After Agency Killed Two 4-Month-Old Pups
PORTLAND, Ore.— Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials today re-authorized the killing of up to two more members of the Lookout Mountain wolf pack. The department first issued a kill order July 29, and two days later shot and killed two of the pack’s 4-month-old pups.
The Lookout Mountain wolf family currently consists of a collared breeding male and female, two yearlings and five four-month-old pups. The mother and father wolf had seven pups in late spring. The department subsequently shot and killed two of the pups on an untested theory that this would reduce the pack’s caloric need and thus deter further conflicts with livestock.
“Pups this age are just losing their milk teeth,” said Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The most they’re capable of hunting is grasshoppers and meadow mice, and Oregon officials’ willingness to kill them is heartbreaking. Slaughtering yet more wolves is not the answer.”
The department issued the kill orders for the Lookout pack members for involvement in several attacks on a handful of livestock on public and private lands pastures in northeastern Oregon that have taken place since mid-July. Both orders authorize the killing of only uncollared pack members. This automatically places the young pups at risk, even though none of them are old enough to hunt wild ungulates or livestock.
Oregon has 1.28 million cattle and 165,000 sheep. As of the end of 2020, the department’s annual wolf report confirmed only 173 wolves in the state. Annual confirmed and probable wolf-caused losses on average amount to only 0.001% of Oregon’s livestock.
“We’re shocked that the Department of Fish and Wildlife wants even more dead wolves,” said Weiss. “The assertion that the pups’ death resulted in a greater lag time before the next conflict occurred is not credible. Any scientist knows that correlation is not causation.”
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.