EDITORIAL: Unburied carcasses an unnecessary wolf attractant

Published 12:00 pm Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Baker Valley is a particularly poor place for a wolf.The potential for conflicts is high. The valley harbors dozens of herds of cattle, along with sheep, goats and other livestock.

Plenty of pets, too.

A veritable smorgasbord for wolves.

With so many attributes that could attract wolves to the valley, adding another, in the form of unburied cow carcasses, can only exacerbate the problem.

Unfortunately that has been the case recently in the eastern part of the valley, near the Baker City Airport.

According to reports from a landowner and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), and based on data from a GPS collar that hangs around the neck of a nearly year-old male wolf, that animal has made nearly daily forays into the valley to feed on those carcasses.

As of this writing, there hadn’t been any reports of the wolf attacking livestock or pets.

But as Brian Ratliff, an ODFW wildlife biologist in Baker City, noted, the situation is inherently troubling, as the wolf, based on the GPS data, has moved through properties with newborn calves among other potential prey.

The unburied cows weren’t the only unnecessary attractants.

An adjacent landowner had a dead horse, but Ratliff said that property owner buried the animal.

That was the responsible thing to do.

Burying a cow or horse is no small task, to be sure. It is the work of heavy equipment, not a garden shovel.

But many residents in the valley own or have access to a backhoe or tractor.

It seems unlikely that any rancher or other property owner in the valley wants to give wolves any additional reason to venture out of the mountains.

Local officials, with money available from a state grant, hope to start a carcass composting operation at the landfill later this year. That could spare livestock owners from the time and expense of burying carcasses.

In the meantime, property owners who have dead animals should strive to bury the carcasses as soon as possible. Doing nothing doesn’t help them or their neighbors.