It took them two weeks, but they eventually caught one. Wildlife agents in eastern Oregon have been after two wolves since these predators killed two dozen lambs and a calf in three separate attacks.

One of the wolves responsible for these attacks was captured May 3, the day before the species was removed from the federal list in Oregon. Wolves remain protected under the Oregon Endangered Species Act, however.

Once these biologists got hold of a critter, they decided an electronic collar would help track the animal’s movements and activate guard boxes to warn the landowner when a wolf approaches the ranch. The landowner can’t do anything, of course, because these wolves are still protected by the state Endangered Species Act.

This all seems logical to some people, but it certainly doesn’t make any sense to the ranchers in Oregon. Or anywhere else, in my opinion. The whole thing reminds me of a legislative hearing I attended in the 1970s. Sheep producers were concerned about losses to coyotes and were hoping for government help with their control.

One rancher showed photos of his purebred lambs that were killed the year before. These lambs were worth $200 or better, but the coyotes didn’t care.

Another landowner described the two young men who drove grain trucks on his ranch several years earlier. These youthful truck drivers had an urban background and couldn’t understand why anyone disliked the coyotes.

The rancher mentioned some of the hazards coyotes offered, and told the young fellows he wasn’t much concerned about his sheep. He worried about the coyotes annoying wild jackrabbits and hoped someone would shoot a few coyotes before they did too much damage.

This made sense to the young drivers. They hoped someone could get rid of some coyotes before the rabbits decided to leave.
Also on the meeting agenda, a biologist from a nearby university showed his video and explained the research he had been doing with a taste aversion chemical. This researcher constructed a secure pen for his coyotes and assembled a doghouse about a foot and a half off the ground.

Then, he penned in a coyote, doctored some sheep tissue with the taste aversion chemical and fed that to the coyote. Next, he treated a sheep collar with the same chemical, put it on a lamb and released the lamb in the pen.

The coyote was horrified by the smell of the chemical, took one look at the lamb and ran under his doghouse.

Several weeks later I saw one of our sheep ranchers in town and asked him how lambing was going. “Oh, I don’t have any sheep anymore,” he said.

“You don’t have any sheep?” I exclaimed. “What happened?”
“I went to that meeting at the bank,” he said. “I watched the film where the lamb chased a coyote under his porch. That was so stupid, I just went home and sold the whole bunch!”

Readers with questions or comments for Roger Pond may write to him in care of this publication.