PORTLAND, Ore.— Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials today announced that the agency killed three more members of the Lookout Mountain Pack, including a yearling and two pups too young to hunt, in response to conflicts with livestock in Baker County.

The department had twice previously this year killed members of this wolf family, including the breeding male, another yearling and three young pups.

“We’re deeply saddened and angered that bullets have reduced this wolf family to a shadow of itself,” said Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Department of Fish and Wildlife killed the mate of the pack’s mother. Forced to hunt alone to feed her two remaining pups, it won’t be a surprise if livestock conflicts continue since livestock are easier to kill for a wolf who has lost her packmates. The agency’s rush to kill wolves only makes things worse for the pack and the livestock operators.”

The Lookout Mountain wolf family consisted of a collared breeding male and female, two yearlings and seven pups born this spring. Between mid-July and mid-October, the pack was implicated in conflicts with livestock that resulted in 12 injured or dead calves or steers.

In three instances, losses were not discovered by livestock owners for anywhere from 10 days to three weeks after the incidents occurred, even though the Department of Fish and Wildlife says livestock operators are monitoring their livestock and removing sick or injured animals so as not to draw in predators.

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.

“Oregon is home to only 173 confirmed wolves, yet the lethal measures the Department of Fish and Wildlife chose as its response to conflicts with livestock have destroyed nearly 5% of the state’s wolf population,” said Weiss. “These rare conflicts should be addressed through better livestock husbandry practices, not killing wolves.”