Wolf That Killed Sheep Moved To Wilderness Area

Federal officers trapped a wolf that had been killing sheep near McCall and relocated it to a remote area of the Clearwater National Forest late last month.

The female was trapped in the headwaters of the Payette River’s North Fork upstream from Payette Lake after it and a male had been killing sheep owned by Phil Soulen of Weiser.

Soulen first reported sheep losses in early August, said Roy Heberger, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist overseeing the agency’s Idaho wolf program.

The incident was made public Wednesday.

Nez Perce Tribe wolf biologist Curt Mack said the Animal Damage Control branch of the U.S. Agriculture Department sent a trapper to the area Aug. 6.

The trapper and biologists tried to capture the animals on three different occasions. The wolves would show up and harass or kill sheep about every five to eight days, Mack said.

Each time the trapper set out the traps, the animals would disappear for a week. Thinking the incident was over, the traps would be pulled and the team would head home.

On the third attempt, the female was caught in a leghold trap Aug. 28. She was then taken north to the edge of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

The female has been staying in the general area where she was released since then.

The two wolves were among those brought south from Canada and released along the Salmon River’s Middle Fork. Mack said the male had frequented the area east of McCall for months without incident.

The male was joined by the female a few weeks before the sheep losses began, Mack said. Since the female was caught, there have been no more sheep killed in the area, although the male remains nearby.