PRAIRIE CITY — A calf has been injured in a wolf attack in the upper John Day Valley in Grant County, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced.

The incident was investigated on Tuesday, May 7, and has been confirmed as a wolf depredation, ODFW officials said in a news release.

A 2-month-old calf was injured in the attack, which took place on private ranchland about 5 miles southeast of Prairie City along the mainstem of the John Day River, according to Ryan Torland, the district wildlife biologist for ODFW’s Grant District.

“We don’t know how many wolves were involved in the attack,” Torland said.

He said the calf had multiple bite marks on its right rear leg, with tissue damage up to 2 inches deep.

The exact date the attack occurred is unknown, Torland said, but added that the livestock producer believes it probably happened late Sunday, May 5, or early Monday, May 6.

Investigators attributed the latest depredation to the Logan Valley Pack. Three wolves were documented as being part of the pack during the most recent winter count by ODFW.

The documented animals include two adults and one yearling, Torland said, but the pack could be growing.

“They should be having pups right now or could have pups in the den,” he said.

The pack’s area of known activity is centered on the Logan Valley in southeastern Grant County but runs north to an area southeast of Prairie City, east into Baker County and south to the Harney County line.

The May 7 attack was the second confirmed case of wolf depredation on Grant County livestock this year. On March 11, wolves from the Northside Wildlife Management Unit were blamed in the killing of a 2-day-old calf on private land in Fox Valley.

There were 10 confirmed instances of livestock depredation by wolves in Grant County last year, up from two in 2022.

Statewide, 178 wolves were tallied in ODFW’s most recent winter count, although wildlife managers acknowledge Oregon’s total wolf population is undoubtedly higher than that.

There were 73 instances of wolf depredation on livestock in Oregon in 2023. That was a slight decrease from the year before, ODFW officials said in their annual wolf report, but also noted that depredation increased by 27% in the eastern part of the state.