Wildlife Services employee kills one Baker County wolf, up to three more

An employee of U.S. Wildlife Services killed one wolf in the Keating Valley east of Baker City on Wednesday, Jan. 28, as state and federal agents carry out a lethal-removal effort tied to repeated livestock losses. The animal was part of the Black Pines pack, which state biologists say has been linked to recent calf kills and cattle injuries across the region.

Brian Ratliff, district wildlife biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Baker City office, said the trapped animal “was caught in a trap near the site of a recent attack on a calf.” ODFW issued a formal lethal removal authorization for the Black Pines pack on Jan. 13, 2026, and Ratliff said agents could kill up to three more wolves from the pack under ongoing operations.

Ratliff estimated the Black Pines pack at seven to nine wolves based on photos and rancher reports. He described the pack as including a breeding male and female and at least four pups born in spring 2025; that litter originally included at least five pups. Before the Jan. 13 authorization, biologists fitted radio collars to two of the 2025 pups. One of those collared pups was the wolf killed Jan. 28, leaving only one collared wolf in the pack.

Livestock producers around Keating Valley have reported mounting losses. Ratliff said the pack had killed two calves and injured three other cattle “over the past month or so,” and that wolves have attacked cattle at least three times since the lethal-removal authorization was issued. The pack’s recent movements have ranged from near Richland through Medical Springs and Telocaset north to High Valley near Cove, according to ODFW descriptions.

Operational tactics include setting traps in the valley and aerial surveillance in a Piper Super Cub airplane, with personnel prepared to shoot wolves if necessary. Ratliff told reporters, “The effort will continue.” U.S. Wildlife Services and ODFW are jointly conducting fieldwork aimed at preventing further depredations on local ranches.

The Black Pines pack has been the focus of previous removals. In late November and early December 2023, ODFW killed six wolves from the pack after at least 10 livestock attacks in Baker and Union counties that year. Those actions left the breeding male described as one of the few original pack members remaining.

For Baker County residents, the removals underscore a familiar tension between protecting livestock and managing a recovering wolf population. Ranchers in Keating Valley face immediate concerns about animal losses and grazing security, while wildlife managers balance depredation response with monitoring pack dynamics after recent collaring and prior removals. ODFW and Wildlife Services say operations will continue; residents and producers should report new depredations to agency contacts so investigators can document incidents and respond as needed.