9-2 IAN Saving Sheep
More on the wolf/ sheep tragedy that we reported on last week. It is just such an eye-opening experience to have seen the picture of 176 dead sheep as a result of wolves running through a herd of 2400. They were piled up in a heap on a hillside south of Victor, Idaho. Idaho Wildlife Services State Director Todd Grimm: “ They were running down hill and the ones in front stumbled and the ones in back started piling on top of them and it just became a cycle. We know of at least one that was fed on. We found at least two that had bite marks that were consistent with an attack on a live sheep as opposed to bite marks on a dead sheep. How often does this happen where wolves prey on sheep? It’s a lot. These pileup incidents are fairly rare but preying on sheep, let me just go through the last month. Two depredations in the Southwest fish and game region, three depredations in the Magic Valley region, three depredations in the Upper Snake region. So that is eight sheep killed. No no. That is eight attacks which includes the 176, sometimes there are 10. Most of the time it is four-six sheep killed per depredation.”
