FOX VALLEY — Grant County’s first confirmed wolf depredation of the year took place earlier this month, state wildlife managers announced on Friday, March 15.

On Monday, March 11, investigators with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife examined a dead 2-day-old calf on private land in Fox Valley and determined it had been killed by wolves active in the Northside Wildlife Management Unit.

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

A male wolf implicated in a spate of recent attacks on livestock in the Bear Valley area was killed by state wildlife managers on Jan. 27 of this year, the first time such an action had been taken in Grant County in response to depredations.

The killing was authorized by a “lethal take permit,” which can be issued by ODFW in cases where wolves have repeatedly preyed on livestock despite the use of non-lethal methods to protect the stock.

Lethal take permits are only granted to qualifying livestock producers east of Highway 395, which acts as a dividing line for wolf management in much of the state. Wolf populations are federally protected west of the highway because the animals are considered endangered in that part of the state.

Highway 395 runs through Fox Valley, where the latest depredation occurred, with some ranchers running stock on both sides of the road.