Wolves Blamed For Deaths Of 25 Sheep In Montana

Wolves killed 25 sheep on a ranch near here Sunday night and officials planned to use some of the carcasses as bait to capture the marauding wolves.

Joe Fontaine, a wolf specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said he believes two wolves attacked the flock and, when they are caught, they will be destroyed.

Fontaine said a wolf pack has lived in the area for several years without killing livestock, but other packs have moved into the surrounding areas. He said declining populations of whitetail deer last fall could be one reason the wolves decided to attack the sheep.

The wolves took about 70 pounds of mutton from the carcasses, indicating they are feeding pups at a den, Fontaine said.

He said two wolves, including one wearing a radio collar, were spotted from the air near the sheep and he believes they are the culprits.

“That’s a lot of sheep,” he said. “That pack has been around for seven years, and there have really been no problems to speak of. They’ve been really good.”

Federal Animal Damage Control officer Ted North set steel traps near the dead sheep. Four of the dead sheep will be used as bait to catch the wolves.

Fontaine hopes the rest of the pack will stick to their natural diet of deer.

Rancher Charlie Cope, who owned the sheep, said the slaughter proves wolf management experts wrong in believing that wolves kill only what they need to eat. He said parts of only three dead sheep were eaten.

Cope questioned whether he could ever be compensated for his loss.

“How can you put a price on a slaughter that sees lambs trying to suckle their dead mothers, and when you see your sheep being buried in a big hole with a front-end loader?” he said.

The environmental group Defenders of Wildlife compensates ranchers for stock lost to wolves.

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