ODFW wolf biologists Roblyn Brown (left) and Russ Morgan (far right) are joined by USDA Wildlife Services worker Marlyn Riggs on a Divide area ranch east of Joseph to try and determine what led to the death of Denny Johnson's 1800-lb. Angus bull on July 6.
Posted: Thursday, July 14, 2011
THE DIVIDE — Something led to the death of Denny Johnson’s
4-year-old, 1,800-pound Thomas Angus bull on July 6, and there’s a
little disagreement between veterinarian Dr. David Schaefer’s
conclusion and that reached by Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
wolf coordinators.ODFW biologists ruled out the possibility the bull was attacked by wolves. Schaefer, however, said he is unable to make that conclusion and believes the attack was by a canine with a large enough jaw to cause the injuries he noted during his examination.
When Divide area rancher Johnson came across the injured bull on July 3, he also found a 300-pound calf with a broken left tibia. Schaefer thinks that the large bone break occurred after Johnson’s herd of cows were suddenly spooked and panicked. “It is likely that a panicked cow hit him, causing the break,” Schaefer said.
Dr. Schaefer’s clinical impression after examining the bull on Wednesday, while it was still alive, was that the infection that eventually led to its death was caused by “a crushing canine bite. My clinical impression is that it is consistent with a canine attack,” he said.
ODFW wolf coordinators Russ Morgan and Roblyn Brown’s conclusion differed from Schaefer’s after examining the bull Wednesday evening just hours after the bull had died from infection caused by its injuries.
“That bull was injured and the infection killed the bull. We started peeling the carcass and you’re looking at one 1 1/8-inch bite and that is not caused by a wolf,” Morgan told Johnson after the examination. In terms of confirming whether or not it was a wolf kill, ODFW concluded officially that it was “possible/unknown,” Brown informed Johnson.
If ODFW had confirmed that the bull’s death was caused by wolf attack, Johnson would have qualified for monetary compensation from a funding program set up by Defenders of Wildlife. The program pays ranchers for livestock lost to wolf attack.
Without the confirmation from ODFW, Johnson is out the $3,500 value of the bull and also suffered an approximate $850 loss associated with the injured calf, which Johnson said would not recover from its injury and would have to be euthanized.
“I’ve been around bulls for 32 years and I’ve never found a bull like that,” Johnson told Morgan and Brown in an emotional confrontation moments after the decision. “How can the vet look at it and say it’s a wolf?” he asked.
“If it was caused by wolves it would be plain as day,” Morgan responded.
“We only found the one torn muscle. The cause of death is the infection. We can’t find any bite marks,” Brown answered.
Johnson had seen the bull and the calf during a routine check of his cows on July 2 and said there were no problems. On July 3, he found the injured calf and the bull down on the ground unable to get up. He and his ranch hands managed to winch the bull onto a trailer and transported it to a spot next to his house, where the animal succumbed to the infection late on July 6.
During Schaefer’s investigation of the bull’s injuries, he compared the muscle damage to what he’s seen when examining animals after being attacked by dogs. Schaefer explained that there were no puncture wounds found on the bull’s hide, but the damage to the underlying muscle was similar to that he’s seen with dog fights when smaller dogs are brought into his clinic after being attacked by larger dogs.
Schaefer said the bull’s right foreleg was injured and then abscessed. He put a needle into the area of the wound and withdrew a sample, concluding that there was shredded muscle and blood consistent with canine attack.
Johnson said he was certain that the bull was attacked by wolves and that the injuries to the calf were caused by cows panicked by wolves. “This is our fourth hit,” he said, alluding to two earlier wolf attacks on his livestock.
“This is Chapter 2, and last year was Chapter 1, and it gets worse and worse every year. We had our cows turned out for two days this year before we got hit,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that he’s noticed behavioral changes in his herd and that his cows have become more aggressive.
“The aggression of our cows is a little disconcerting. It’s becoming like a little miniature rodeo out there occasionally” he said. “We’ve been told what would happen. It’s becoming harder to work the dogs and they are our working partners. There’s going to be a time when we’re going to have to leave our dogs at home.”
Johnson had a discussion with president of the Wallowa County Stockgrowers Association Todd Nash during the inspection of the bull by ODFW. “You know and I know that we’re not going to be able to exist with this — when you lose $4,000 in one day,” Johnson said to Nash.
Nash said last year just in the Divide/Marr Flat area east of Joseph, there were reports of 53 head of cattle that were unaccounted for above what would be considered as normal loss, and he believes those were preyed upon by the Imnaha wolf pack. Nash said the total included nine adult cows and bulls that he estimated were worth $1,500 apiece and the 32 missing calves were valued at about $800 per head. “With the wolf compensation bill, there is only $70,000 to work with. The loss in the Divide/Marr Flat area to the Imnaha Pack adds up to about $47,000 and that doesn’t account for losses on the other side of the highway,” Nash said.
“Wolf compensation is not the answer and when they talk about coexistence, I don’t even know what that means,” Johnson concluded. “I’m not going to be able to coexist. Our animals are totally unprepared for this. It took one year for the wolves to find where the elk bed and birth. I can’t believe in our society that this is acceptable. There are people in favor of wolves, but I’ve yet to meet any who have any skin in the game. The game has changed. The number of wolves will increase until we’re run off our land. And, if we do something about it, we become the enemy of the country I love.”
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